ABSTRACT
The current German criminal law is to a large extent based on the Prussian Criminal Code of 1851, which distinguished between simple intentional and premediated killing. The basic homicide offence in modern German criminal law is Totschlag which is defined as the intentional killing of another person. German Criminal Law has several result-qualified homicide offences in which death is the result of the commission of a basic offence. All homicide offences presuppose the killing of another person, which means they must be directed against a living human being. As a rule, all homicide offences can be committed by omission. Although consent of the victim is not a full defence to homicide offences, the defendant receives a considerably lesser punishment, if he is induced to kill by the express and earnest request of the victim. All result-qualified homicide offences presuppose that the death of the victim is immediately or directly caused by the commission of the basic offence.
