Chapter 13- Actus Reus

Question 1

What is actus reus?

Answer 1

-It is the physical element of a crime, It can be;
an act or
a failure to act (omission) or
a ‘state of affairs’

Question 2

What are conduct crimes and an example?

Answer 2

• The actus reus is the prohibited conduct itself
• EG, the actus reus of the offence of drink driving is a criminal offence under s 5 of the Road Traffic Act 1988
• Driving with excess alcohol in your bloodstream is the offence
• No consequence is required

Question 3

What are consequence crimes and an example?

Answer 3

• The actus reus must also result in a consequence
• This means that the actus reus is only committed where, as well as the defendant doing something, there is also a prohibited consequence
• EG, in the offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, there must be an application or threat of unlawful force but there must also be a consequence of ‘actual bodily harm’= injury to the victim
• However, it’s not enough that there is a consequence eg Marchant and Muntz

Question 4

What are state of affairs crimes, including an example?

Answer 4

• The defendant is responsible
• EG, having an offensive weapon in public (Prevention of Crime Act 1953), where the D doesn’t have to do anything with the weapon or have it visible for it to be an offence
• Sometimes they can be convicted even though they aren’t acting voluntarily, considered as offences for which there is absolute liability eg R v Lasonneur

Question 5

What is the voluntary nature of actus reus, including an example?

Answer 5

• |f the defendant has no control over their actions, then they haven’t committed the actus reus
• In Hill v Baxter the court gave examples of where a driver couldn’t be said to be doing the act of driving voluntarily eg being stung by bees or having a heart attack
• Case example- R v Mitchell

Question 6

What is ‘Involuntariness’?

Answer 6

• The opposite of voluntarily
• Occurring in state of affair crimes and the unusual case of R v Larsonneur
• The idea is also present when considering the lack of mens rea

Question 7

What is an omissions for actus reus?

Answer 7

-An omission can’t make a person guilty of an offence

Question 8

What is a ‘Good Samaritan’ law?

Answer 8

• Some other countries have one

- It makes a person responsible for helping others in an emergency, even if its a complete stranger

Question 9

What are the exceptions to the rule where an omission can make a person guilty?

Answer 9

There are 6 ways in which a duty can exist:

• statutory duty
• contractual duty
• duty due to a relationship
• duty which has been taken on voluntarily
• duty through ones official position
• duty which arises because the defendant has set in motion a chain of events

Question 10

What is a statutory duty exception to the rule and example?

Answer 10

• An Act of Parliament can create liability for an omission

- Example= failing to stop/report a road traffic accident under the Road Traffic Act 1988

Question 11

What is a contractual duty exception to the rule and example?

Answer 11

• R v Pittwood
• The failure of someone to do their duty could make them guilty of an offence if someone is hurt/killed as a result eg a railway crossing keeper forgetting to close a gate causing someone to be struck by a train and die

Question 12

What is a duty because of a relationship exception to the rule, including an example?

Answer 12

• usually a parent child relationship, as they have a duty to care for their young children
• a duty can also exist the other way round for elderly parents and grown up children
• R v Gibbins and Proctor

Question 13

What is a duty which has been undertaken voluntarily exception to the rule, including an example?

Answer 13

• Somebody voluntarily took a duty eg a partner voluntarily undertaken the duty to look after their partners children
• R v Gibbins and Proctor

Question 14

What is a duty though one’s official position exception to the rule, including an example?

Answer 14

• An official position could be a police officer, teacher, fireman etc
• The official fails to do what is expected of their job position
• R v Dytham

Question 15

What is a duty which arises because the defendant set in motion a chain of events exception to the rule, including an example?

Answer 15

-The idea of owing a duty and being liable though omission was created in R v Miller, where a squatter had accidental started a fire

Question 16

What is the duty of doctors exception to the rule, including an example?

Answer 16

• Doctors may decide to stop treating a patient
• If the stopping of treatment is in the patients best interests then its not an omission which can form the actus reus
• This was decided in Airedale NHS Trust v Bland

Question 17

What is causation?

Answer 17

• Where a consequence must be proved, then the prosecution has to show that:
• the defendants conduct was the factual cause of the consequence
• it was the legal cause of that consequence and
• there was no intervening act which broke the chain of causation

Question 18

What is factual cause/ ‘but-for’ test and an example?

Answer 18

• D could only be found guilty if the consequence would not have happened ‘but-for’ the defendants conduct
• the ‘but-for’ test can be shown in R v Pagett
• D was guilty as the girl wouldn’t have died ‘but-for’ his actions

Question 19

What is legal cause and an example?

Answer 19

• There maybe more than 1 act contributing to the consequence
• Some acts maybe made by people other than the D
• The D can be guilty if their conduct was more than a ‘minimal’ cause of the consequence
• But the defendants conduct needs to be a substantial cause
• Seen in R v Kimsey

Question 20

What are multiple causes and an example?

Answer 20

• There maybe more than 1 person whose act contributed to the death
• the D can be guilty even if their conduct wasn’t the only cause of the death
• In Kimsey both drivers were driving at high speed but the D could be found guilty

Question 21

What is the thin-skull rule and an example?

Answer 21

• The D must take the victim as they find them
• Meaning if they have something unusual about their physical or mental state which makes the injury worse, then the defendant is liable for the more serious injury
• R v Blaue (Jehovah’s Witness)

Question 22

What are intervening acts?

Answer 22

• Must be a direct link from the D’s conduct to the consequence- known as the chain of causation
• Sometimes something else happens after the D’s act or omission and if this is sufficiently separate from the D’s conduct, it may break the chain
• eg stabbing someone in the arm, on the way to hospital in an ambulance they are involved in a car and suffer head injuries

Question 23

what is the medical treatment causation and an example?

Answer 23

• Unlikely to break the chain of causation unless its so independent of the D’s acts and ‘in itself so potent in causing death’ that their actions are insignificant
• Shown in R v Smith, where the D was still held guilty providing that injury was still an ‘operating’ and ‘substantial’ cause of death

Question 24

what is the life-support machines causation and an example?

Answer 24

• Switching off a life-support machine by a doctor when the patient is brain dead does not break the chain of causation
• This was decided in R v Malcherek

Question 25

What is the victims own act causation and an example?

Answer 25

• If the defendant causes the victim to react in a foreseeable way, then any injury to the victim will be considered to have been caused by the D
• This occured in R v Roberts

Question 26

What is the unreasonable reaction causation and an example?

Answer 26

• If the victims reaction is unreasonable, then the chain of causation may break
• In R v Williams a hitch hiker jumped from W’s car and died from head injuries
• This makes it necessary to consider the surrounding circumstances in deciding whether the victims own conduct had broken the chain