The court found the defendant guilty of gross negligence manslaughter, because of his omission to act. In a more recent case of R v Hood (2003), the defendant left his wife untreated at home for three weeks after she injured herself in a fall.
The court regarded the parent's duty towards the young child as so self-evident and where therefore found guilty of murder. In the case of R v Gibbins & Proctor (1918), the parents failed in their duty to act, when they deliberately starved their seven year old daughter to death. Examples of such obvious relationships are parents to their children, between married couples and doctors to their patients. Therefore, it goes without saying that the closer the relationship between the parties, the more likely it is that a duty to act will exist. However, under common law, duties to act may arise where there is some kind of a relationship between the two parties involved. Examples of such offences are failure to provide a breath specimen under the Road Traffic Act 1988, or the willful neglect of a child under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. The most obvious exception of a legal duty to act is under statute, where the law actually creates offences for omission. Consequently, we must look into the different situation where such a ‘legal duty’, may arise. But, it should be made clear that there is no ‘general duty’ to act and therefore, as we shall see further down, a person can only be liable for an omission where a ‘legal duty’ to act arises. Therefore, my approach to answering the question will be through identifying these exceptions and the relevant case law, as well as discussing the theoretical debate and the different approaches, concerning criminal liability on omissions.Īs already mentioned, even though the general rule in English law is that, a person can only be criminally liable for positive actions, there are instances where the defendant could be liable for omitting to act. However, this rule is subject to a number of exceptions and there is much debate about whether or not criminal liability should be imposed for an omission to act. Imposing Criminal Liability In English Criminal Law Law General Essay
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