Failure To Act Case Study

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Recommended: Elements of criminal liability

Failure to act in criminal law can result to an unlawful act because the criminal law imposes a duty to act. If a person doesn’t perform that act then they will be liable and guilty.doing nothing will cause actus reus to happen. Sometimes a person will be liable for failing to act. Generally principle remains that a person isn’t guilty for not wanting to do something. There are two types of of liability for omission. The first is the breach of duty to act. The second is the liability for failing to intervene.
There are situations where a person will be liable for failing to act. In many cases the is ni duty to ac but a person will be criminally liabke for an ommisiion because there is a legal duty to act. Examples of when a legal duty to act should take place is neglection of a child and the duty owed by the public officer. “Gibbins & Proctor, Rv (1918) CCA”, a man and his common law wife starved a 7 year old to death. As a parent your duty is to take care of your children regardless whether they are your biological children or not. The defendants will failed to look after the child and therefore liable for murder, even though the child wasn’t hers she was receiving money from the husband for food. This case a clear example as to how a failure in criminal law may amount to an unlawful act.
In comparison to “Smith, Rv (1826)” when a man had a helpless brother , he kept the brother in a dark room with little food and warmth. Even though what the man did to his brother is unlawful, there isn’t any legal obligation on one brother to maintain and look after the other. With this case there isn’t any duty towards another adult.
There are many examples by causing an unlawful act due to failure to abide the criminal law. If a driver fails...

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...istakenly reputed part of the woman’s uterus as well as her bladder, as a result of this the woman died. The doctor was convicted of manslaughter. In Mr Young’s case it was necessary to give Bernard medication but as a result of gross negligence he instructed the nurse to give Bernard an overdose of the medication. Mr Young is responsible for Bernard’s death.
Bernard get hit by a bus when he retreated from Albert. Even though it isn’t entirely Albert’s fault, the bus driver did also contribute to the death of Bernard. The mere fact that Albert stabbed as well as him getting run over by a bus does not break the chain of causation. If Bernard escaped from Albert, he probably wouldn’t have gone to seek help or he would have died whilst trying to get to the hospital. Not knowing the exact location could mean Bernard would have died anyway regardless being hit by a bus.

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