Homicide Act 1957

สรุป

The Homicide Act 1957 is the principal statutory reform of the law of murder and manslaughter in England and Wales, enacted following the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment (1953) and growing unease about the mandatory death penalty. The Act made three significant reforms to the common law of homicide. First, it abolished the doctrine of constructive malice — the rule that killing in the course of a felony automatically constituted murder regardless of intent (s.1). Second, it introduced diminished responsibility as a partial defence to murder, reducing the offence to manslaughter where the defendant was suffering from such abnormality of mind as substantially impaired their mental responsibility (s.2 — later substantially amended by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009). Third, it codified and modified the defence of provocation (s.3 — replaced by loss of control in 2009). The Act also provided that where two persons enter a suicide pact and one kills the other, the survivor commits manslaughter, not murder (s.4). The death penalty for murder was abolished by the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965. The partial defences of diminished responsibility (as reformed in 2009) and loss of control (which replaced provocation) are the principal surviving provisions. The Act has been repeatedly reviewed by the Law Commission, which published comprehensive reports in 2004 and 2006 recommending a tiered murder/manslaughter structure that has not yet been enacted.

ประเด็นสำคัญ

• Section 1: abolished constructive malice — the rule that killing in the course or furtherance of a felony constituted murder regardless of the defendant's intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm
• Section 2 (as amended by s.52 Coroners and Justice Act 2009): diminished responsibility partial defence — where the defendant was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning arising from a recognised medical condition that substantially impaired their ability to understand their conduct, form a rational judgment, or exercise self-control, and the abnormality provides an explanation for their acts; verdict: manslaughter
• Section 3 (now repealed by CJA 2009): provocation partial defence — provided that the jury should determine whether the provocation was enough to make a reasonable man do as the defendant did, taking into account everything said and done; replaced by loss of control under ss.54-56 CJA 2009
• Section 4: suicide pact — where two persons in pursuance of a settled intention to kill themselves together, one kills the other, the survivor is guilty of manslaughter, not murder; the burden is on the defendant to prove the suicide pact on a balance of probabilities
• Sections 5-6 (now mostly repealed): originally created categories of 'capital murder' (murder of a police officer, murder during theft, murder by shooting, murder to resist arrest, multiple murder) carrying the death penalty; fully superseded by the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965

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