Involuntary Manslaughter—introduction

Manslaughter can be classified as either voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary manslaughter consists of those killings which would be Murder (because the accused has the relevant mental element—hence the label voluntary manslaughter) but which are reduced to manslaughter because of one of the three special defences. Involuntary manslaughter refers to those types of manslaughter which can be charged in their own right and where the accused lacks the mental element for murder ie the intention to kill or cause Grievous bodily harm (GBH), although equally they can result from an Indictment for murder where the prosecution fail to prove the mental element. See: R v Taylor (1834) 2 Lew CC 215 (not reported by LexisNexis®). For further information on voluntary manslaughter and murder, see Practice Notes: Voluntary manslaughter and Murder.

There are two classes of involuntary manslaughter where a defendant:

1. •

   kills another by an unlawful act which was likely to cause bodily harm (known as either unlawful act manslaughter or constructive manslaughter), or

2. •

   kills another by gross negligence (manslaughter by gross negligence)

Unlawful act manslaughter

In order to prove manslaughter by