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Ryan V R
''Ryan v The Queen'' (abbreviated to ''Ryan v R'') is a seminal case in Australian criminal law. The case is an application to the High Court of Australia for special leave to appeal a conviction for murder. It is often cited in cases of felony murder (referred to as constructive murder in Australian law) and when the issue of voluntariness is in question. Facts On March 10, 1965, Robert Patrick Ryan and his accomplice, Mr White, committed an armed robbery of a service station in Carramar, New South Wales. White would act as the getaway using a motorcycle, while Ryan would carry out the robbery proper using a sawn-off rifle. Mimicking a book he had read, Ryan planned to tie the service attendant up before absconding. While tying up the service attendant, Noel Francis Taylor, the rifle discharged, a bullet penetrated Taylor's neck and caused Taylor's death. Ryan claimed the discharged of the rifle was accidental and that he was culpable for manslaughter, not murder. Under the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Criminal Law
The criminal law of Australia is the body of law in Australia that relates to crime. Responsibility for criminal law in Australia is divided between the state and territory parliaments and the Commonwealth Parliament. This division is due to the Commonwealth Parliament's limited legislative powers under Australian constitutional law.While Australian state governments have plenary power to enact legislation, the Commonwealth's legislative powers are exhaustively defined within the Australian Constitution. The criminal law system differs across Australian states, with distinctions readily found across jurisdictions regarding criminal offences, sentencing and criminal procedure. Additionally, there exists a distinction between Australia's "code states" and "common law states". The code states of Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania have wholly replaced the system of judge-made criminal law inherited from England with legislative instruments that exhaustively define the cri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Court Of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was established following the passage of the ''Judiciary Act 1903'' (Cth). Its authority derives from chapter III of the Australian Constitution, which vests it (and other courts the Parliament creates) with the judicial power of the Commonwealth. Its internal processes are governed by the ''High Court of Australia Act 1979'' (Cth). The court consists of seven justices, including a chief justice, currently Stephen Gageler. Justices of the High Court are appointed by the governor-general on the formal advice of the attorney-general following the approval of the prime minister and Cabinet. They are appointed permanently until their mandatory retirement at age 70, unless they retire earlier. Typically, the court operates by receiving applicati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leave To Appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and interpreting law. Although appellate courts have existed for thousands of years, common law countries did not incorporate an affirmative right to appeal into their jurisprudence until the 19th century. Terminology American English and British English have diverged significantly on the topic of appellate terminology. American cases go up "on appeal" and one "appeals from" ( intransitive) or "appeals" ( transitive) an order, award, judgment, or conviction, while decisions of British courts are said to be "under appeal" and one "appeals against" a judgment. An American court disposes of an appeal with words like "judgment affirmed" (the appeal is without merit) or "judgment reversed" (the appeal has merit), while a British court dispose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the crime of killing a person with malice aforethought or with recklessness manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.") This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction, distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, such as manslaughter. Manslaughter is killing committed in the absence of Malice (law), ''malice'',This is "malice" in a technical legal sense, not the more usual English sense denoting an emotional state. See malice (law). such as in the case of voluntary manslaughter brought about by reasonable Provocation (legal), provocation, or diminished capacity. Involuntary manslaughter, ''Invol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felony Murder Rule
The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in some jurisdictions), the offender, and also the offender's accomplices or co-conspirators, may be found guilty of murder. The concept of felony murder originates in the rule of transferred intent. In its original form, the malicious intent inherent in the commission of any crime, however trivial, was considered to apply to any consequences of that crime regardless of intent. History While there is debate about the original scope of the rule, modern interpretations typically require that the offence be an inherently dangerous one, or one committed in an obviously dangerous manner. For this reason, the felony murder rule is often justified by its supporters as a means of deterring dangerous felonies. According to some commentators, the comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actus Reus
In criminal law, ''actus reus'' (; : ''actus rei''), Latin for "guilty act", is one of the elements normally required to prove commission of a crime in common law jurisdictions, the other being ("guilty mind"). In the United States, it is sometimes called the '' external element'' or the ''objective element'' of a crime. Etymology The terms ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' developed in English Law are derived from a principle stated by Edward Coke, namely, ''actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea'', which means: "an act does not make a person guilty unless (their) mind is also guilty"; hence, the general test of guilt is one that requires proof of fault, culpability or blameworthiness both in thought and action. Act In order for an ''actus reus'' to be committed there has to have been an act. Various common law jurisdictions define act differently but generally, an act is a "bodily movement whether voluntary or involuntary." In '' Robinson v. California'', , the U.S. Supreme C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carramar, New South Wales
Carramar is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Carramar is located 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield and is part of the South Western Sydney region. History Carramar's name comes from an aboriginal word meaning "shade of trees". The first land grant in the area was made by Governor King in 1803. One of Sydney's oldest trees, the Bland Oak, was planted in the suburb in the 1830s by William Bland. When the railway station opened here in 1924 it was called South Fairfield. However, the area had been known as Carramar since at least the 1850s and the name of the station was changed to Carramar in 1926. A post office was opened the following year as the local population began to swell. Demographics According to the of population, there were 3,475 residents in Carramar. 36.8% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were Vietnam 18.0%, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th century BC. The definition of manslaughter differs among legal jurisdictions. Types Voluntary For voluntary manslaughter, the offender had intent to kill or seriously harm, but acted "in the moment" under circumstances that could cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. There are mitigating circumstances that reduce culpability, such as when the defendant kills only with an intent to cause serious bodily harm. Voluntary manslaughter in some jurisdictions is a lesser included offense of murder. The traditional mitigating factor was provocation; however, others have been added in various jurisdictions. The most common type of voluntary manslaughter occurs when a defendant is provoked to commit homicide. This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Purpose
The doctrine of common purpose, common design, joint enterprise, joint criminal enterprise or parasitic accessory liability is a common law legal doctrine that imputes criminal liability to the participants in a criminal enterprise for all reasonable results from that enterprise. The common purpose doctrine was established in English law, and later adopted in other common-law jurisdictions including Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, the Solomon Islands, Texas, the International Criminal Court, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Common design also applies in the law of tort. It is a different legal test from that which applies in the criminal law. The difference between common designs in the criminal law and the civil law was illustrated in ''NCB v Gamble'' 9591 QB 11 at 23, by Devlin LJ: The difference applies in US law as well. The United States Supreme Court reached the same conclusion in ''Sony Corporation of America v Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capital Punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender be punished in such a manner is called a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is ''condemned'' and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Etymologically, the term ''capital'' (, derived via the Latin ' from ', "head") refers to execution by Decapitation, beheading, but executions are carried out by List of methods of capital punishment, many methods, including hanging, Execution by shooting, shooting, lethal injection, stoning, Electric chair, electrocution, and Gas chamber, gassing. Crimes that are punishable by death are known as ''capital crimes'', ''capital offences'', or ''capital felonies'', and vary depending on the jurisdic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woolmington V DPP
''Woolmington v DPP'' 935AC 462 is a landmark House of Lords case, where the presumption of innocence was re-consolidated (for application across the Commonwealth). In criminal law the case identifies the metaphorical "golden thread" running through that domain of the presumption of innocence. Facts Reginald Woolmington was a 21-year-old farm labourer from Castleton, Dorset. He married 17-year-old Violet in August 1934. She gave birth to his child in October. Shortly after, the couple fell out. On 22 November 1934, Violet left the matrimonial home to live with her mother. On 10 December, Reginald stole a double-barrelled shotgun and cartridges from his employer and sawed off the barrel. He then cycled to his mother-in-law's house where he shot and killed Violet. He was arrested on 10 December 1935 and was charged with murder. Woolmington's defence was that he did not intend to kill and thus lacked the necessary ''mens rea''. Specifically, he claimed that he had wanted to w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder In Australian Law
In Australia, murder is a criminal offence where a person, by a voluntary act or omission, causes the death of another person with either intent to kill, intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, or with reckless indifference to human life. It may also arise in circumstances where the accused was committing, or assisting in the commission, of a different serious crime that results in a person's death. It is usually punished by life imprisonment. Australia is a federal nation and the law of murder is mostly regulated under the law of its constituent states and territories. There is also federal murder offence available in limited circumstances.Criminal Code 1995' (Cth) s 115.1 South Australia In South Australia, the ''Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935'',. states: No further definition for murder can be found within the Act. 'Life' is also poorly defined, with section 5 of the Act stating: Instead, particulars of 'murder' and 'life' are defined by the common law. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
