Introduction

Murder is not provided for in the laws of England and Wales, with its definition comes from case law. The definition of murder can be broken down into two components Mens Rea and Actus Reus . This short article will focus on two aspects of the killing. Firstly, short glimpse of the two concepts need. This will create readers relevant understanding for the more important part of this article, be the development of these two concepts. Finally, this article will focus on the future on the definition of murder, focusing on proposals for a more appropriate definition of the crime of murder.

Actus Reus and Mens Rea

The idea of ​​ Actus Reus deals with the act of all criminal offenses, not just murder. As stated in the introduction Actus Reus common law violations will be provided by case law. The law itself will not be a violation. It will be a spiritual element to the crime; this is known as arguments times . An example of this would be simply to drop the dog and kick a dog. While the ceremony will be the same, and in fact the result, it is intended to change the situation in a criminal act.

The idea of ​​ Mens Rea refers to the spiritual aspect of any crime. This definition may change from crime to crime. Key contributed to most crimes must intentionally in the example above. If these two factors are present, then a criminal offense will have been committed.

Development of the two concepts

first definition of Actus Reus murder was given by Coke and ‘unlawful killing fair a person who is to be the kings and peace “. This definition emanated from the 17th century and was not equipped to deal with medical advances came at the beginning of this definition.

The intimidating look of this two-part definition Mens Rea . Most of the literature that has addressed this area has focused on the definition of plans, and more importantly, foresight person accused of such crimes. Examples of this would be a classical explanation given in most textbooks. Here barbarian to blow up the plane. The accused believes that it was only his goal, only his intention. However, the plan is full of people on board, if the machine explodes the people on board will be killed. A persons vision of their actions, it plays an important role . Case law in the field Mens Rea has been great, by definition eventually settled in the House of Lords case. (It is not the scope of this short article to explore the area fully, although the quotation for this case RV Wool 1996).

Proposals for the future

The Law Commission has proposed a definition of reason menstruation element, although it has not been followed. Recent proposal has been put forward by the Nathan Committee, although this change only slightly law at present, although calls for targeted analysis that is provided by the law seems more distant than ever.

Conclusion

As has been shown by this short article, violation of common law murder is a very complex area. The first elements based on Latin and have the foundations in the 17th century. The development of these two concepts has been slow and cumbersome; leading to accusations that the only reason for this is that the subject is too emotive. Although the definition is now more up, this area is crying out for definition provided by law similar to that provided in the United States.