9084 · 2.1.1
Common exam mistakes on 9084 Actus reus. Learn what loses marks, then practise the topic with Examiner’s Ink.
No. In English law, there is no general 'Good Samaritan' duty to rescue. A person is only criminally liable for a failure to act (an omission) if they are under a specific, pre-existing legal duty to do so, for example, due to their job, a family relationship, or because they created the danger themselves.
No, not automatically. For medical treatment to break the chain of causation, it must be 'palpably wrong' or so independent of the defendant's act that the original wound is merely part of the history. As established in R v Cheshire, this is a very high threshold to meet. In most cases, even negligent medical treatment will not break the chain of causation started by the defendant's attack.
They are distinct but related stages. Factual causation ('but for' test) is a broad, preliminary filter to see if there is any connection at all. Legal causation is a much narrower legal and policy-based test. It asks whether the defendant's act was a 'substantial and operating' cause and whether it is fair to attribute the result to the defendant. A defendant's act could be a factual cause but not a legal cause if it is deemed too remote or is superseded by an intervening act.