ABSTRACT
The Criminal Code Act 1893 was the first codification of the criminal law in New Zealand. The homicide provisions in that Act were borrowed, almost word for word, from The Draft Code of the UK Royal Commission on the Law Relating to Indictable Offences in 1879. The homicide offences in New Zealand are currently codified in the Crimes Act 1961 ('CA 1961'). There are three types of homicide offences in New Zealand: Murder, manslaughter and infanticide. All forms of homicide in New Zealand have the same core actus reus requirements. The primary test used in New Zealand to determine whether the defendant's act or omission caused the victim's death is the 'substantial and operative cause' test. The New Zealand courts have required that the unlawful act that causes death for the purposes of section 160(2)(a) be 'dangerous'. New Zealand has one form of felony murder, which is set out in section 168 of the CA 1961.
