14. General defences

This chapter deals with general complete defences that the accused can use to avoid liability. The focus is on defences that can apply (with one exception) to offences throughout the criminal law and will result in the accused’s acquittal. Five kinds of general complete defences are examined: insanity (as a defence), duress by threats, duress by circumstances, the public and private defence (also known as self-defence), and necessity. The chapter first considers the categorical division between excuses and justifications, before explaining the elements of each of the defences in turn. It then outlines potential options for legal reform concerning individual defences and concludes by discussing the application of the general defences to problem facts. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with brief summaries of the main facts and judgments.

11. General inchoate offences

This chapter deals with general inchoate offences. A person’s conduct may be inchoate (‘just begun’, ‘undeveloped’), but also deserving of criminalisation. The chapter is structured around the three core general inchoate offences, namely: attempt, conspiracy, and assisting or encouraging. It explains the actus reus and mens rea of each of these offences, along with specific defences. It also looks at double inchoate liability, substantive offences in an inchoate form, and potential options for legal reform concerning the actus reus of attempts, the mens rea of attempts and conspiracy, and assisting and encouraging. Finally, the chapter discusses the application of general inchoate offences within problem questions. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with brief summaries of the main facts and judgments.

7. Non-fatal offences against the person

This chapter deals with non-fatal offences against the person, a variety of offences designed to criminalise behaviour ranging from the infliction of serious (non-fatal) injuries to potential targeting of any non-consensual contact. The chapter begins by explaining the offences of assault and battery, the actus reus and mens rea of each, and defences. It then considers relevant provisions of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 with respect to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm, and wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The chapter then considers ‘conduct focused’ offences against the person, such as harassment and poisoning. Finally the chapter outlines potential legal reforms concerning modernisation and re-codification, constructive liability, and consent; and the potential application of the offences against the person within a problem question. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with a brief summary of the main facts and judgment.

6. Manslaughter

This chapter focuses on manslaughter, a common law homicide offence with an actus reus of unlawful conduct causing death. The chapter considers two categories of manslaughter: voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughter arises where D commits murder, but meets the criteria for one of the partial defences: loss of self-control, diminished responsibility, or suicide pact. Involuntary manslaughter arises where D does not commit murder, but commits a relevant manslaughter offence: unlawful act manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, or reckless manslaughter. The chapter explains statutory offences of unlawful killing (corporate manslaughter, driving causing death, infanticide, killing of a foetus) and concludes by outlining options for legal reform concerning voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and the structure of manslaughter offences. Relevant cases are highlighted with a summary of the main facts and judgment.

4. Interaction of actus reus and mens rea

This chapter focuses on the interaction between actus reus and mens rea in proving criminal liability. It first considers how actus reus and mens rea relate to one another within the structure of an offence before discussing the issues that also emerge when applying offence requirements to a set of facts. As an example, it explains how every element (conduct, circumstance, and result) of an offence includes an actus reus requirement and a corresponding mens rea requirement. It also examines the correspondence principle and the doctrine of transferred malice, along with the coincidence principle. Finally, it outlines potential options for legal reform and a structure for analysing the actus reus and mens rea of an offence when applying the law in problem-type questions. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with brief summaries of the main facts and judgments.

2. Actus reus

This chapter provides an overview of actus reus, which refers to the ‘external elements’ of an offence. An actus reus is not simply about the movements of the accused, that is, her conduct. Rather, it includes any offence requirement that is external from the mind of the accused: anything that is not mens rea. Before discussing the elements that form the actus reus, this chapter considers the distinction between actus reus and mens rea. It then describes the three elements of actus reus: conduct, circumstances, and results. It also explains the categories of actus reus offences, omissions liability, and causation before concluding with sections that outline potential options for legal reform and a structure for analysing the actus reus of an offence when applying the law in a problem-type question. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with a brief summary of the main facts and judgment.

3. Mens rea

This chapter provides an overview of mens rea, loosely translated as ‘guilty mind’. Whereas the actus reus of an offence focuses on the accused’s conduct, the results of that conduct, and the circumstances in which it takes place (external elements), mens rea focuses on what is going on in the accused’s mind (internal elements). The chapter first considers the elements of criminal liability under mens rea versus actus reus before discussing the legal meaning of central mens rea terms such as ‘intention’, ‘negligence’, ‘dishonesty’, and ‘recklessness’ and how these terms work in the context of a whole offence. It also describes certain offences that require actus reus elements with no corresponding mens rea and vice versa. Finally, it outlines a structure for analysing the mens rea of an offence when applying the law in a problem-type question. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter.

13. Denials of an offence

This chapter deals with the rules on denials of an offence, a denial of one or more actus reus or mens rea elements. In particular, it considers three sets of rules relating to the denial of an offence: intoxication, sane automatism, and insanity. As well as discussing how each of these rules can be used by D to avoid liability, the chapter also focuses on how circumstances of ‘prior fault’ can be used by the prosecution to substitute for missing mens rea elements so as to construct liability. It also outlines potential options for legal reform concerning intoxication, sane automatism, and insanity, and concludes by considering how denials of offending based on intoxication, automatism, and insanity should be applied to problem facts. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with brief summaries of the main facts and judgments.

12. Parties to crime

This chapter examines the criminal liability of parties to a crime. Where D involves herself in the crime of another, and that crime is completed, D may not just be liable for her inchoate role, but may be additionally liable as an accomplice. As such, she is labelled and punished in the same way as the principal. This chapter begins with an overview of the current law of complicity and the circumstances where uncertainty can emerge in determining whether D is a principal or an accomplice. It then considers the elements of complicity by aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring; the abolition of complicity by joint enterprise; the relationship between complicity and inchoate liability; and available defences. It outlines options for legal reform concerning complicity and the potential application of complicity within a problem question. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with brief summaries of the main facts and judgments.

1. Introduction

This book focuses on substantive criminal law, that is, how offences such as theft and murder are defined. This introductory chapter sets in context criminal offences and defences, first by considering the basis upon which certain conduct is criminalised and other conduct is not. It then outlines the reasons why people commit crimes, which types of people commit them, and whether certain groups are over-represented in criminal statistics. It also discusses the role of evidence in assessing how well criminal offences can be proved in practice; the punishments for committing crimes; the difference between criminal and civil law; the process and procedure to obtain a criminal conviction; sources of the substantive criminal law; the internal structure of offences and defences; principles of the substantive criminal law and the subjects to which it applies; legal reform; and the application of the current law.