R v Vickers [1957] 2 QB 664

Lord Goddard CJ:

" Murder is, of course, killing with malice aforethought, but ' malice 'aforethought' is a term of art. It has always been defined in English law as either an express intention to kill, as could be inferred when a person, having uttered threats against another, produced a lethal weapon and used it on a victim, or implied where, by a voluntary act, the accused intended to cause grievous bodily harm to the victim, and the victim died as the result."

 

Back to lecture outline on the law of Murder

Back to lecture outline on Judicial Precedent