MRS OWEN CASE LIST - CRIMINAL OFFENCES

Actus Reus - Act or Omission.

Hill v Baxter.

The court gave examples when a driver for example may not be acting voluntary when driving a car. these included being stung by a swarm of bees, or being hit on the head by a stone. As these examples are involuntary, there would be no Mens Rea.

Contractual Duty.

R v Pittwood.

An omission in Actus Reus, contractual duty.

Pittwood,failed to close the gate on a level crossing he manned as his job, as a result a hay cart was hit by a train. he had a contractual duty to open and close the gate to prevent harm occuring. His failure to act was seen as a failure to perform his contract.

Duty as a Carer.

R v Stone+Dobinson.

An omission in Actus Reus, carer.

Stone and Dobinson let their sister fanny, die of anorexia, knowing and fully understanding the seriousness of her illness. they did make some feeble attempts to save her but it was deemed not good enough for the courts. the court said that they had accepted responsibility for her and therefore had failed to act.

Creating a Dangerous Situation.

R v Miller.

Miller, when squatting in a building fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand, which lead to the mattress he was asleep on, setting on fire. When he awoke and realized the situation, he simply left the mattress to burn and went to another room. His actions were a failure to act after creating a dangerous situation.

A Continuing Act.

Fagan v MPC.

Fagan ran over a police mans foot when he stopped him, the police man told him to get off and Fagan did not be got out of the car instead, Fagan tried to claim that not driving off the police mans foot was an omission. however the court ruled that by driving onto the foot and staying there constituted as a continuing act rather than one single one and not moving the vehicle did not amount to an omission.

Actus Reus - Factual Causation (the "but for" test).

R v White.

White tried to poison his mum with cyanide in her drink. when she was found dead the next morning, it was prove that she died of natural causes not of the poison.

If you apply this case to the test: would death of occurred "but for" the defendants actions.... yes. This proves that White was not causation in fact.