Definition Essay On Murder

Murder is a common law offence, and has never been defined by statute. Murder is an example of unlawful homicide. Homicide is the killing of one human being by another.

Homicide is a term which describes a number of offences. These can be grouped into murder, manslaughter, infanticide, corporate manslaughter and suicide. Murder and manslaughter are the most common types.

Murder is defined in law as causing the death of a human being within the Queen's peace with the intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm. Therefore murder comprises of two elements, these are 1) the act (actus reus) and 2) the intention (mens rea).

The actus reus of manslaughter, that of one person unlawfully killing another during the Queen’s peace, is exactly

In the case of R v Nedrick [1986], the defendant set fire to his house, not intending to kill anyone, but a child in the house died. Nedrick said that if a jury would be unable to find actual intention, a judge could direct a jury that intent may be inferred if the death which occurred (or GBH) was a ‘virtual certainty'.

Early on the years past by in the case of R v Woollin [1999] is the current authority on this point, modifying the Nedrick rule only slightly in that a jury might find, as opposed to infer, intent if the act was virtually certain.

When First degree kill (required life penalty)Killing intentionally.Killing where there was an expectation to do genuine damage, combined with a familiarity with a genuine danger of creating death.Second degree kill (optional life most extreme penalty)Killing where the guilty party proposed to do genuine injury.Killing where the wrongdoer planned to bring about some harm or a dread or danger of harm, and knew about a genuine danger of bringing on death.Killing in which there is a fractional safeguard to what might some way or another be first degree murder.Manslaughter (optional life greatest penalty)Killing through gross carelessness as to a danger of bringing about death.Killing through a criminal act:intended to bring about damage; orwhere there was a mindfulness that the demonstration included a genuine danger of bringing on injury.Participating in a joint criminal wander over the span of which another member carries out first or second degree kill, in conditions where it ought to have been clear that first or second degree murder may be perpetrated by another