Leigh, Gavin David (2016) Moral responsibility and criminal liability for unforeseen death : reconstructing unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter. (PhD thesis), Kingston University, .

Abstract

The crime of manslaughter, in England and Wales, arguably includes two ways by which it may be proved, those circumstances which extenuate the crime of murder notwithstanding. One of these sub-species is sometimes referred to as unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter. "UDA" manslaughter has been the subject of criticism for at least 175 years. In recent decades this criticism for at least 175 years. in recent decades this criticism has taken the form of a philosophical argument, centring on the concept of moral luck, which has remained unresolved. Reform proposals over the same period have been contradictory. This thesis investigates the criticism by means of normative and juridico-historical inquiries, which assess the moral and historical authority for UDA manslaughter. A normative inquiry reaches the conclusion that moral responsibility for unforeseen death may be justified by the relationship between luck and "pursuit", but that criminal liability requires the capacity to foresee and the opportunity to avoid death. The juridico-historical inquiry determines that intended bodily harm (less than serious harm) was a separate sub-species of manslaughter, but that a wider sub-species, involving any advertent crime and the foreseeable risk of some harm, may be justifies by the concept of "heedlessness", if death is a foreseeable consequence of the circumstances in which the crime is committed.

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