Common Professional Examination (CPE) Criminal Law Syllabus

Criminal Law syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Criminal Law in Common Professional Examination (CPE), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   General Principles of Criminal Liability

   3 topics

   • Actus Reus
     • Conduct, result and circumstance elements
     • Omissions and duty situations
     • Causation in criminal law
   • Mens Rea
     • Intention: direct and oblique (Woollin)
     • Recklessness (Cunningham subjective test)
     • Negligence and strict liability
   • Coincidence and Transferred Malice
2. 2

   Fatal and Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person

   4 topics

   • Murder
     • The actus reus and malice aforethought
   • Voluntary Manslaughter
     • Loss of control (Coroners and Justice Act 2009)
     • Diminished responsibility
   • Involuntary Manslaughter
     • Unlawful act manslaughter
     • Gross negligence manslaughter
   • Non-Fatal Offences
     • Assault and battery
     • Offences Against the Person Act 1861: ss 47, 20 and 18
3. 3

   Property Offences

   4 topics

   • Theft
     • Appropriation, property and belonging to another
     • Dishonesty (Ivey v Genting) and intention to permanently deprive
   • Robbery and Burglary
     • Theft Act 1968 ss 8 and 9
   • Fraud
     • Fraud Act 2006: false representation, failure to disclose, abuse of position
   • Criminal Damage
     • Criminal Damage Act 1971 and lawful excuse
4. 4

   Defences

   3 topics

   • Capacity Defences
     • Insanity and automatism
     • Intoxication (specific and basic intent)
   • Necessity-Based Defences
     • Self-defence and prevention of crime
     • Duress by threats and of circumstances
   • Consent
5. 5

   Inchoate Offences and Participation

   4 topics

   • Attempts
     • Criminal Attempts Act 1981 and the 'more than merely preparatory' test
   • Conspiracy
     • Statutory and common law conspiracy
   • Encouraging or Assisting Crime
     • Serious Crime Act 2007
   • Secondary Participation
     • Aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring (Jogee)

Criminal Law flashcards for Common Professional Examination (CPE)

21 of 51 cards from the Criminal Law deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the two essential general components of a criminal offence that the prosecution must prove?

   The actus reus (the prohibited conduct, circumstances or consequences) and the mens rea (the required guilty state of mind), which must coincide in time.

2. Define 'actus reus' and list its three possible forms.

   The actus reus is the external/physical element of an offence. It can take the form of (1) conduct, (2) a result/consequence, or (3) a state of affairs/circumstance, and it must be voluntary.

3. What is the general rule on liability for omissions, and what are the recognised exceptions giving rise to a duty to act?

   The general rule is no liability for failing to act. Exceptions arise where there is a duty: by statute; by contract (Pittwood); by a special/voluntary relationship (Gibbins & Proctor; Stone & Dobinson); by creating a dangerous situation (Miller); or by holding a public office (Dytham).

4. What are the rules of factual and legal causation in result crimes?

   Factual causation uses the 'but for' test (White): but for the defendant's act, would the result have occurred? Legal causation requires the act to be an operating and substantial cause (Smith); it need not be the sole cause, but a novus actus interveniens can break the chain.

5. What three types of intervening act may break the chain of causation (novus actus interveniens)?

   (1) A free, deliberate and informed act of a third party; (2) an act of the victim that is unforeseeable/'daft' (Roberts; Williams); and (3) extraordinary natural events. Medical treatment breaks the chain only if 'palpably wrong' and so independent it overwhelms the original wound (Cheshire; Jordan).

6. State the 'thin skull' rule in causation.

   The defendant must take the victim as found. A pre-existing condition or characteristic (physical, or per Blaue religious belief affecting refusal of treatment) that makes the harm worse does not break the chain of causation.

7. Define 'mens rea' and name the main fault elements in the hierarchy.

   Mens rea is the mental/fault element of an offence. The main states are intention (direct and oblique), recklessness, knowledge/belief, dishonesty, and negligence.

8. Distinguish direct intention from oblique (indirect) intention, and state the test for oblique intention.

   Direct intention means the consequence is the defendant's aim or purpose. Oblique intention applies where the consequence is not the aim: per Woollin, the jury may find intention if death/serious harm was a virtual certainty of the act and the defendant appreciated that it was.

9. State the test for subjective (Cunningham) recklessness.

   A defendant is reckless if they foresaw a risk of the prohibited consequence/circumstance and went on unreasonably to take that risk. Following R v G [2003], recklessness in criminal law is assessed subjectively (objective Caldwell recklessness is abolished).

10. What is the doctrine of transferred malice and what is its key limitation?

    Where a defendant directs mens rea at one victim/object but the actus reus takes effect on another of the same type, the malice is transferred (Latimer). Limitation: malice cannot transfer between different types of offence/actus reus (Pembliton — intent to hit a person could not supply mens rea for criminal damage).

11. How is the requirement that actus reus and mens rea coincide satisfied in continuing-act and single-transaction cases?

    Coincidence can be satisfied by treating conduct as a continuing act so mens rea formed during it suffices (Fagan), or by treating a series of acts as one transaction so mens rea at any point covers the whole (Thabo Meli; Church).

12. State the definition of murder (the actus reus and mens rea).

    Murder (common law, per Coke) is the unlawful killing of a human being under the King's/Queen's peace, with malice aforethought. The mens rea is intention to kill (express malice) OR intention to cause grievous bodily harm (implied malice) (Vickers; Cunningham).

13. What three special/partial defences reduce murder to manslaughter, and what is their effect?

    Loss of control, diminished responsibility, and a suicide pact. They are partial defences available only to murder; if successful they reduce liability to voluntary manslaughter, removing the mandatory life sentence.

14. State the three components of the partial defence of loss of control (Coroners and Justice Act 2009, ss 54–55).

    (1) The defendant lost self-control; (2) the loss had a qualifying trigger — fear of serious violence and/or things said/done amounting to circumstances of an extremely grave character giving a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged; and (3) a person of the defendant's sex and age with normal tolerance and self-restraint might have reacted similarly. The loss need not be sudden, and sexual infidelity alone is excluded as a trigger.

15. State the elements of diminished responsibility (Homicide Act 1957 s 2, as amended by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009).

    An abnormality of mental functioning, arising from a recognised medical condition, that substantially impaired the defendant's ability to understand the nature of their conduct, form a rational judgment, or exercise self-control, and which provides an explanation for the killing (i.e. is a significant contributory factor). The burden is on the defence on the balance of probabilities.

16. Name the three types of involuntary manslaughter.

    (1) Unlawful act (constructive) manslaughter; (2) gross negligence manslaughter; and (3) (sometimes recognised) reckless manslaughter.

17. State the four elements of unlawful act (constructive) manslaughter.

    (1) An intentional act (not an omission) that is (2) criminally unlawful, (3) objectively dangerous — a sober and reasonable person would foresee the risk of some harm (Church), and (4) which causes death. The defendant needs mens rea for the base unlawful act only, not for death (DPP v Newbury).

18. State the elements of gross negligence manslaughter (Adomako).

    (1) A duty of care owed to the victim; (2) breach of that duty; (3) the breach causes death; and (4) the breach was so grossly negligent as to be criminal — a serious and obvious risk of death that justifies a criminal conviction (Rose; Broughton).

19. List the five principal non-fatal offences against the person in ascending order of seriousness.

    (1) Assault (common assault); (2) battery; (3) assault occasioning actual bodily harm (OAPA 1861 s 47); (4) malicious wounding/inflicting GBH (s 20); (5) wounding/causing GBH with intent (s 18).

20. State the actus reus and mens rea of common assault.

    Actus reus: causing the victim to apprehend immediate unlawful personal violence. Mens rea: intention or (Cunningham) recklessness as to causing that apprehension. Words alone, and even silence, can suffice (Ireland; Constanza).

21. State the actus reus and mens rea of battery.

    Actus reus: the infliction of unlawful force (any unlawful touching) on another. Mens rea: intention or recklessness as to the application of unlawful force.

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