ABSTRACT
This is the first of two chapters on substantive areas of the law. We have already discussed homicide and assault in some of the previous chapters. Murder (intentional killing) is the most severe offence in the criminal law. However, there are interesting questions about how the requisite “intention” can be stretched to accommodate certain kinds of unintentional killing. Among the remaining kinds of unintentional killing, which are penalised as manslaughter (and on what basis), and which should be ignored as unfortunate accidents? One answer would be to say that if the defendant is already carrying out a dangerous and unlawful act (an assault, say), then she should be held responsible for any unintended deaths resulting directly from her unlawful act. Is this fair? There is also a special set of questions about whether a victim can consent to assault, to the point of exonerating the assailant. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a special context of assault, that of domestic abuse.
