ABSTRACT
The model of a person of a normal degree of tolerance and self-restraint seen as a more subtle and nuanced construction which could have important implications for how the new defence will operate in practice and in particular it will be argued that the introduction of the concept of 'tolerance' is highly significant. This chapter shows how the new objective test performs rather a different function in the new defence as compared to the function performed by the objective condition in the old defence of provocation. Arguments about how the defendant's circumstances were relevant to his/her conduct other than by reference to his/her capacity for tolerance and self-restraint expected to be a common feature of the early case law under the Act. In other words, the presence of a person with a normal degree of tolerance in the objective test may encourage a greater degree of tolerance by the courts in the interpretation of other aspects of the defence.
