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In 1985, The Law Commission Report on Codification of the Criminal Law proposed the following definition of murder: A person who kills another: (a) intending to kill; or (b) intending to cause serious injury and being aware that he may kill; [or (c) intending to cause fear of death or serious injury and being aware that he may kill]
Intent is defined in English law by the ruling in R v Mohan [1976] QB 1 as "the decision to bring about a prohibited consequence" (malum prohibitum). [1] [2] [3]A range of words represents shades of intent in criminal laws around the world.
The actus reus (Latin for "guilty act") of murder was defined in common law by Coke: . Murder is when a man of sound memory and of the age of discretion, unlawfully killeth within any county of the realm any reasonable creature in rerum natura under the King's peace, with malice aforthought, either expressed by the party or implied by law, so as the party wounded, or hurt, etc. die of the ...
Under state of mind (i), intent to kill, the deadly weapon rule applies. Thus, if the defendant intentionally uses a deadly weapon or instrument against the victim, such use authorises a permissive inference of intent to kill. Examples of deadly weapons and instruments include but are not limited to guns, knives, deadly toxins or chemicals or ...
In English law, the mens rea requirement of murder is either an intention to kill or an intention to cause grievous bodily harm. In R v Moloney [1985], [ 15 ] Lord Bridge held that intent, as defined in the mens rea requirement of murder, 'means intent', so the jury should simply use the term intent legally as they would in normal parlance.
Death is an irremediable harm that is dealt with particularly seriously in English law. For example, the crime of murder uniquely carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, regardless of the degree to which the defendant is morally culpable provided they are legally culpable.
An alleged letter from Ryan Routh stating his intent to kill Donald Trump in September 2024. U.S. Justice Department
The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in some jurisdictions), the offender, and also the offender's accomplices or co-conspirators, may be found guilty of murder.