Wilson Unlawful Law

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Recommended: Critically analyse the unlawful act of manslaughter

Through the result and decision of Wilson, there has been a development of case and statute law in the area of manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act. This is due to the interpretation of the elements of unlawful and dangerous for future common law decisions, and is now evident in statute law.

The test of Holzer, which was followed by the majority of judges in Wilson, has resulted in a great impact of case and statute law. In particular, the impact of the case of Wilson was the application of the test, determined the elements of the act of manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act. It was held in Wilson that for an act to be considered unlawful, it must breach an area of criminal law. Secondly, it was decided through Wilson what …show more content…

This has been taken to be a dangerous act. This includes an act that is delivered to the head or neck of the victim, for the purpose of common law relating to manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act. This resolves any ambiguity and confusion as to whether, to satisfy the offence of manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act, if the act is dangerous. In reference to Wilson, it had to be determined if the blow to the neck was appreciable risk of injury, and therefore dangerous. However, in any cases where this same problem may arise, the Crimes Act now includes this as manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act. If the same or similar case as Wilson and others were to occur, through the application of s 4A of the Crimes Act, the defendant would be guilty of manslaughter, if all other elements were …show more content…

This does not allow for an objective approach to be taken in each circumstance that arrives and simply treats all cases as the same. This knee-jerk reaction of punitive legislation implemented by New South Wales occurred four days after Loveridge, with arguably minimal input from any relevant interest groups. Therefore, there is a high level or argument and interest put forward for both sides, for and against the recent implementation of single-punch manslaughter, as a development and furthered scope of manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act. As the legislation implemented was in achieved in a very short period, it did not allow for further deliberation with interest groups and other persons of interest to determine if it reflects the best interests of the community. There is a high level of negative connotations that have resulted from single-punch law, which identifies with a large sector of the community, especially the academic community that do not support these new provisions in the

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