1. Unit 2 – Criminal Liability
Date: Saturday, 08 September 2018
Unit 2 – Criminal Liability
Lesson Outcomes:
Identify what is meant by the actus reus of a crime
Describe the key elements of the actus reus
Apply and give examples of voluntary acts, involuntary acts, omissions and causation
Specification links:
Actus reus: voluntary acts and omissions; causation
Key vocabulary
Actus reus, omissions, causation, voluntary/involuntary acts
Starter: In your own words, define the following crimes:
Theft
Murder 1

2. ‘Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit re’
Two elements of a crime
Actus Reus
(Guilty act)
Mens Rea
(Guilty mind)
‘Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit re’
An act does not create a guilt unless the mind is also guilty

3. An example.
If I raise my hand - to scratch my head - and hit Ben, I display the actus reus of battery. But, do I have the necessary mens rea?
Suppose D throws a stone (the actus reus) with the intention of hitting Tom (mens rea), but instead breaks the window of a building.
What crime could be, or has been, committed?

4. What is Actus Reus? Actus reus could be… An act… A state of affairs
An omission
An act - i.e. hitting someone
Omission – i.e. failure to do something
State of affairs – Larsonneur (1933) – the D had been ordered to leave the UK.. She decided to go to Eire. The Irish police deported her and took her back to the UK. She did not wish to go back and did not go voluntarily. When she landed in the UK she was immediately arrested and charged with ‘being an alien to whom leave to land in the UK had been refused, was found in the UK. She was an alien who had been refused leave to land and she was found in the UK. It did not matter that she had been brought back by the Irish police against her will. 4

5. a) An Act (must be voluntary)
The act or omission must have occurred because of the defendants ‘conscious exercise of will’
Hill v Baxter 1958  hypothetical case of bees causing loss of control over the car

6. b) State of affairs
Write a case note for the case of Larsonneur (1933) (p.186)
Key Facts
Ratio decidendi
TIF – consider the scenario in the box on p.187

8. “Good Samaritan”
France has a law which makes a person responsible for helping other people in an emergency situation, even though they are complete strangers.
You can be charged for taking pictures rather than helping or not helping the victims of a car crash.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of law?
Princess Diana crash 8

9. Should Zoe be guilty of an offence?
Zoe is sitting by a swimming pool in the grounds of a hotel. Jason is swimming in the pool. He is the only person in the water and there are no other people near the pool. Jason gets out of the pool and while walking around it he slips and falls into the water. He is knocked unconscious. Zoe sees this happen but she does nothing. Jason drowns.

10. Would it make any difference if Zoe were a lifeguard? Why?
Would it make any difference if Jason were Zoe’s young son? Why?

11. Exceptions to the rule on omissions
In some cases a failure to act is seen as an actus reus.
This is where there is a duty on the behalf of D to act.
Statutory duty
Contractual duty
Duty through a relationship
A duty which has been voluntarily undertaken
Duty through an official position
Duty through a chain of events

12. Research the exceptions to the rule
A statutory duty
A contractual duty
A duty because of a relationship
A duty which has been taken voluntarily
A duty through ones official position
A duty because the defendant has set in motion a chain of events

13. Doctor’s Duty Discontinuing treatment of a patient is not an omission.
Airdale NHS Trust v Bland (1993)
Bland had been crushed at the Hillsborough disaster.
As a result he was severly brain damaged & in a pvs.
Doctor’s asked for a ruling that could stop them feeding him.
Court ruled that doctors could even though this meant that Bland would die.
This was held to be in his best interests.

14. Issues surrounding omissions
Should England have a Good Samaritan law?
There is a contradiction over the duty of doctors.
Under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 all members of a household are liable for failure to protect a child.
The outcome in Stone v Dobinson can be seen to be harsh.
So many exceptions mean that it is not certain when a duty to act will exist – this means the law is capable of expanding to cover more situations.

15. Khan and Khan (1998)
Ds supplied heroin to a new user who took it in their presence and then collapsed.
They left her alone and by the time they returned to the flat she had died.
The Court of Appeal in it’s obiter said that there could be a duty to summon medical assistance in certain circumstances.
So that a D could be liable for not doing so.