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Kembaraxtra-Case Law-Lamb (1967)-Unlawful Act Manslaughter & Criminal Negligence
Facts:
Facts:
- Defendant (D) jokingly pointed a revolver at his friend (V) and pulled the trigger.
- D believed the gun wouldn't fire as he thought no bullet was in line with the barrel.
- The revolver fired, killing V.
- D was found not guilty of unlawful act manslaughter.
- Unlawful Act Must Be Criminal:
- The court clarified that merely being unlawful from a civil liability perspective is insufficient for establishing unlawful act manslaughter.
- Sachs LJ: "...it is long settled that it is not in point to consider whether an act is unlawful merely from the angle of civil liabilities."
- Technical Assault Not Established:
- To qualify as an unlawful act, the act must, at minimum, constitute a technical assault.
- The court found that the evidence did not sufficiently establish a technical assault.
- Criminal Negligence Consideration:
- The court suggested the Defendant could be properly convicted of criminal negligence manslaughter.
- Criminal negligence arises if the Defendant's belief that there was no danger in pulling the trigger was formed in a criminally negligent manner.
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