Criminal Law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Criminal Law - Coursework Example The first point of homicide is murder. The actus reus of mens rea was provided by Sir Edward Coke in the seventeenth century whereby he stated that the act is committed if the defendant ‘unlawfully killeth any reasonable creature in rerum natura under the Queen’s peace’. The definition of unlawfully does not include the killing of for example the use of reasonable force for self defence (Re a (Children)1. Clearly it can be seen that due to the substance overdose the child had died and therefore this is unlawful. As far as killeth is concerned that refers to the requirement that the acts of the defendant can be attributed to be a legal cause of death. Clearly the acts/omission of Thomas to inform his wife of the correct proportion had led to the death of the child. As far as killing of the reasonable creature in rerum natura is concerned it means that a human life is taken. Clearly this is satisfied as the child has died. Finally Queen’s peace means that it must have been within England and not the killing of an enemy at war. This can be seen to have been proved on the facts, as the child died in England.. Therefore on the facts the actus reus of murder has been satisfied. Intention discussed in Woollin and applied by Matthwes and Alleyne3 was described as defendants aim or purpose was to kill or cause grievous bodily harm or he know of such harm as being a virtually certain consequence of such an act, and any level below that of virtual certainty would not suffice. On the facts it is more than evident that Thomas clearly did not possess the intention nor was he virtually certain as the consequence. Thus it is quite clear that the mens rea for murder is not satisfied. As far as voluntary manslaughter is concerned it is not relevant to the facts at hand as there was neither provocation or was there any diminished responsibility. Thus voluntary manslaughter in respect of the facts will not be argued. The next step is that of