Culpable homicide is a categorisation of certain offences in various

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Ju ...

s within the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

which involves the illegal killing of a person either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a particular jurisdiction has defined the offence. Unusually for those

legal system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, statutory law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history an ...

s which have originated or been influenced during rule by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the name of the offence associates with

Scots law Scots law () is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Ireland ...

rather than English law.

Jurisdictions

"Culpable homicide" offences are found in the following jurisdictions; the description of the local version of the offence is given where available:

Canada

In Canada, "culpable homicide" is not itself an offence. Rather, the term is used in the

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

to classify all killings of persons as either culpable or not culpable homicide. There are three types of culpable homicide: murder,

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 ...

and

infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of resou ...

. Killings classified as not culpable are justifiable killings; thus the term is used to define the criminal intent or mens rea of a killing. Non-culpable homicide includes those committed in self-defence.

India

The offences include causing death whether by intention or not. * Under §299 of the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established i ...

(IPC), " ..committer ofCulpable homicide" is defined as "Whoever causes death by doing an act with the intention of causing death, or with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with the knowledge that he is likely by such act to cause death, commits the offence of culpable." "Culpable homicide not amounting to murder" is punishable under section 304 of IPC of the Indian Penal Code. It is a non bailable charge with imprisonment up to 10 years with or without fine.

Pakistan

The Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) in earlier form included the offence of "culpable homicide" for acts of homicide resulting from the infliction of intentional harm upon a person: Amendments in recent years have replaced the specific phrase "culpable homicide" within those sections and introduced terms from Sharia law but it remains in §38 (Persons concerned in criminal act may be guilty of different offences). The current equivalent sections are: Following sections of the PPC deal further with the offence in increased detail.

Scotland

Culpable homicide is committed where the accused has caused loss of life through wrongful conduct but where there was no intention to kill or "wicked recklessness". It is an offence under

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

and is roughly equivalent to the offence of manslaughter in the law of England and Wales. While the offence charged remains the same there can be a great variation between individual cases including whether or not the act was voluntary or involuntary: * Voluntary culpable homicide is homicide where the '' mens rea'' for murder is present but

mitigating circumstance In law, attendant circumstances (sometimes external circumstances) are the facts surrounding an event. In criminal law in the United States, the definition of a given offense generally includes up to three kinds of "elements": the , or guilty co ...

s reduce the crime to culpable homicide. * Involuntary culpable homicide is homicide where the ''mens rea'' for murder is not present but either the independent ''mens rea'' for culpable homicide is present, or the circumstances in which death was caused make it culpable homicide. Involuntary culpable homicide may arise in the context of an unlawful act or a lawful act. The ''mens rea'' requirement is different in each case.

Singapore

"Culpable homicide" is: Whoever causes death by doing an act with the intention of causing death, or with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with the knowledge that he is likely by such act to cause death, commits the offence of culpable homicide.

Examples

* Person ''A'' lays sticks and turf over a pit, with the intention of thereby causing death, or with the knowledge that death is likely to be thereby caused. Person ''Z'', believing the ground to be firm, treads on it, falls in and is killed. ''A'' has committed the offence of culpable homicide. * ''A'' knows ''Z'' to be behind a bush. ''B'' does not know it. ''A'', intending to cause, or knowing it to be likely to cause ''Z''’s death, induces ''B'' to fire at the bush. ''B'' fires and kills ''Z''. Here ''B'' may be guilty of no offence; but ''A'' has committed the offence of culpable homicide.

South Africa

"Culpable homicide" has been defined (in

South African law South Africa has a 'hybrid' or 'mixed' legal system, formed by the interweaving of a number of distinct legal traditions: a civil law system inherited from the Dutch, a common law system inherited from the British, and a customary law system ...

) simply as "the unlawful negligent killing of a human being", the rough equivalent of

involuntary 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 ...

in Anglo-American law.S v. Naidoo and Others

Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), formerly known as the Appellate Division, is an appellate court in South Africa. It is located in Bloemfontein, the "judicial capital" of South Africa. History On the creation of the Union of South Africa f ...

, Case 321/2001

References

Footnotes

Notations

Strathclyde University Scots law course

{{DEFAULTSORT:Culpable Homicide Law of Canada Criminal law legal terminology Scottish criminal law Law of South Africa