Logged out
Access All our Essays in an Instant
Swap your work for FREE access, or pay £4.99 for instant access
The difficulty with the elusive definition of Recklessness was first identified in 1957.
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Mon Jun 19 2006
Page Preview
On the left is an image preview of every page of this document, and below are the first 150 words with formatting removed:
The difficulty with the elusive definition of Recklessness was first identified in 1957. Cunningham1 highlighted the fact that the term 'malicious' in section 23 of 'the offences against the persons act 1861' was misleading. The judge in this case had previously directed the judge that its meaning was 'wickedness'. The court of appeal recognised that the term was more accurately prescribed as intent or awareness of risk and a consequent disregard for this risk. Thus the test for a 'malicious' act would be whether the result was intended or whether it had been performed 'recklessly. Thus the doctrine of subjective recklessness was born. 'He foresaw that the removal of the gas meter might cause injury to someone.'2 Henceforth, if a jury believed that at some time during or before the act was performed the defendant was aware of the risk and disregarded it; he would be guilty acting maliciously (within...
Get instant access
- Instant, unlimited access to our documents in full
- Swap your work for free access, or pay £4.99
- To see the full version of this document and 149,430 others
