Attorney General’s Reference (No 3 of 1999)
E655796
Attorney General’s Reference (No 3 of 1999) is a leading House of Lords decision in English criminal law that clarified the principles of transferred malice and causation in homicide cases involving injury to a pregnant woman and the subsequent death of her child.
Statements (38)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
English criminal law case
ⓘ
House of Lords decision ⓘ criminal law case ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | AG’s Reference (No 3 of 1999) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| appliesTo | cases involving injury to pregnant women and subsequent death of the child ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw | criminal law ⓘ |
| citedFor |
analysis of causation where medical treatment and time intervene
ⓘ
analysis of transferred malice in homicide ⓘ |
| citedIn |
English criminal law textbooks
ⓘ
academic commentary on foetal rights and personhood ⓘ |
| clarifiedPrinciple |
that causation can be established where the defendant’s act is a significant cause of the child’s death
ⓘ
that liability for homicide can arise where injuries to a pregnant woman cause the later death of the child after birth ⓘ that the unlawful act must be directed at a human being in being for homicide ⓘ that transferred malice does not apply from the mother to the foetus and then to the child ⓘ |
| country | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| court | House of Lords NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| factPattern | defendant stabbed a pregnant woman causing premature birth and later death of the child ⓘ |
| holding |
the child becomes a person in being at birth for homicide purposes
ⓘ
the defendant could be convicted of manslaughter of the child but not murder ⓘ the foetus is not a separate legal person for the purposes of homicide ⓘ |
| issue |
whether intent to harm the mother could be transferred to the child
ⓘ
whether the chain of causation between the stabbing and the child’s death was broken ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | England and Wales ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| leadingCaseOn |
causal link between initial assault and later death
ⓘ
limits of transferred malice ⓘ |
| legalPrinciple |
a defendant may be liable for manslaughter where his unlawful act significantly contributes to the death of a child born alive
ⓘ
malice cannot be transferred to a foetus that is not yet a person in being ⓘ the chain of causation is not broken by the natural process of birth following an assault ⓘ |
| legalSystem | common law ⓘ |
| partOf | English homicide jurisprudence ⓘ |
| shortDescription | House of Lords case on transferred malice and causation in homicide involving injury to a pregnant woman ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
causation in criminal law
ⓘ
death of a child following birth ⓘ foetal injury ⓘ homicide ⓘ transferred malice ⓘ unlawful act manslaughter ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.