Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) 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 Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   General Principles of Criminal Liability

   4 topics

   • Actus Reus
     • Conduct, result and circumstance crimes
     • Omissions and duty to act
     • Causation in criminal law
   • Mens Rea
     • Intention: direct and oblique (R v Woollin)
     • Recklessness (R v G)
     • Negligence and strict liability
   • Coincidence of Actus Reus and Mens Rea
   • Transferred Malice
2. 2

   Fatal and Non-Fatal Offences

   4 topics

   • Murder
     • Definition and the mens rea of malice aforethought
   • Voluntary Manslaughter
     • Loss of control (Coroners and Justice Act 2009)
     • Diminished responsibility
   • Involuntary Manslaughter
     • Unlawful act manslaughter
     • Gross negligence manslaughter (R v Adomako)
   • Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person
     • Assault and battery
     • ABH and wounding/GBH under the OAPA 1861
3. 3

   Property and Inchoate Offences

   5 topics

   • Theft
     • Appropriation, property and belonging to another
     • Dishonesty (Ivey v Genting) and intention to permanently deprive
   • Robbery, Burglary and Handling
   • Fraud and Making Off Without Payment
   • Criminal Damage
   • Inchoate Offences
     • Attempts (Criminal Attempts Act 1981)
     • Conspiracy and assisting/encouraging crime
4. 4

   Defences and Participation

   3 topics

   • Capacity Defences
     • Insanity and automatism
     • Intoxication
   • Necessity Defences
     • Self-defence and prevention of crime
     • Duress by threats and of circumstances
   • Parties to a Crime
     • Principals and accessories
     • Joint enterprise (R v Jogee)

Criminal Law flashcards for Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)

21 of 61 cards from the Criminal Law deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the legal definition of actus reus?

   The actus reus is the external/physical element of an offence: the prohibited conduct, the relevant circumstances, and (in result crimes) the prohibited consequences. It must be performed voluntarily.

2. Distinguish 'conduct crimes' from 'result crimes' in the actus reus.

   Conduct crimes require only the prohibited act regardless of consequence (e.g. perjury, dangerous driving). Result crimes require the conduct to cause a specified result (e.g. murder requires death).

3. When does a duty to act arise so that an omission can constitute the actus reus?

   A duty arises from: statute; contract (R v Pittwood); a special/familial relationship; voluntary assumption of care (R v Stone & Dobinson); creating a dangerous situation (R v Miller); or holding public office (R v Dytham). Otherwise there is no general liability for omissions.

4. State the principle in R v Miller (1983) on omissions.

   Where D creates a dangerous situation, even unknowingly, and then becomes aware of it, a duty arises to take reasonable steps to counteract it. Failing to do so (not extinguishing a fire he started) supplies the actus reus.

5. What two types of causation must the prosecution prove in result crimes, and what are the tests?

   Factual causation: the 'but for' test (R v White). Legal causation: D's act must be an operating and substantial (more than minimal/de minimis) cause of the result.

6. What is the 'thin skull' (egg-shell skull) rule in causation?

   D must take the victim as he finds them (R v Blaue). A pre-existing weakness or characteristic (e.g. a religious refusal of a blood transfusion) does not break the chain of causation, even though it worsens the harm.

7. When will medical treatment break the chain of causation (novus actus interveniens)?

   Only rarely. Negligent treatment breaks the chain only if it is 'so independent of D's act and so potent in causing death' that D's contribution is insignificant (R v Cheshire). In R v Smith the wound was still an operating and substantial cause despite poor treatment.

8. When does a victim's own act break the chain of causation?

   It does not break the chain if it is a reasonably foreseeable response (e.g. escape attempts — R v Roberts), provided the reaction is not 'daft' or wholly disproportionate (R v Williams). Free, informed and voluntary self-administration of drugs can break it (R v Kennedy No 2).

9. Define mens rea and name its three main fault elements.

   Mens rea is the mental/fault element of an offence. The principal forms are: intention (direct or oblique), recklessness (subjective/Cunningham), and negligence (failing to meet the standard of the reasonable person).

10. Distinguish direct intention from oblique (indirect) intention.

    Direct intention: the result is D's aim or purpose. Oblique intention: the result is not D's purpose, but the jury may find intention where the result was a virtual certainty of D's act and D appreciated this (R v Woollin — the 'virtual certainty' test).

11. State the test for subjective recklessness.

    Per R v Cunningham and confirmed in R v G (2003): D is reckless if he foresees a risk of the prohibited consequence and unreasonably goes on to take that risk. The test is subjective — D must personally have foreseen the risk.

12. What did R v G and another (2003) decide about recklessness?

    It overruled the objective Caldwell recklessness test and restored the subjective Cunningham test for criminal damage and generally: D must actually foresee the risk. It is unjust to convict a defendant (here, children) who did not perceive the risk.

13. What is the coincidence (contemporaneity) principle?

    The actus reus and mens rea must exist at the same time. Without coincidence there is generally no liability.

14. How do the courts circumvent strict coincidence using the 'continuing act' approach?

    Where the actus reus is treated as a continuing act, mens rea formed at any point during its continuance satisfies coincidence (Fagan v MPC — driving onto a policeman's foot and then refusing to move).

15. How does the 'single transaction' approach satisfy coincidence?

    A series of acts is treated as one continuing transaction, so mens rea need only exist at some point during it (Thabo Meli v R; R v Church). D need not have the mens rea at the precise moment the fatal act occurs.

16. Explain the doctrine of transferred malice.

    Where D, with the mens rea for a crime against one victim/object, accidentally causes the same type of harm to another, the malice is 'transferred' and D is liable (R v Latimer — belt struck unintended victim).

17. What is the key limitation on transferred malice?

    Malice cannot be transferred between different types of offence — the actus reus and mens rea must relate to the same kind of crime. In R v Pembliton, intention to hit a person could not transfer to liability for criminal damage to a window.

18. State the classic (common law) definition of murder.

    The unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being under the King's/Queen's peace, with malice aforethought (express or implied), per Coke's definition.

19. What is the mens rea for murder?

    Malice aforethought, meaning an intention to kill OR an intention to cause grievous bodily harm (really serious harm) — R v Vickers; R v Cunningham. Note: foresight of death/GBH is only evidence of intention, not intention itself.

20. Name the three special/partial defences to murder and their source.

    Diminished responsibility, loss of control, and suicide pact — all under the Homicide Act 1957 (as amended by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009). They reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter; they do not lead to acquittal.

21. State the elements of diminished responsibility (s.2 Homicide Act 1957, as amended).

    D must suffer from (1) an abnormality of mental functioning, (2) arising from a recognised medical condition, which (3) substantially impaired D's ability to understand the nature of conduct, form a rational judgment, or exercise self-control, and (4) provides an explanation for the killing.

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