LL
B CRIMINAL LAW
COURSEWORK
Law School
1
OF 2
LLB CRIMINAL LAW
LEVEL 4
G3
SEMESTER
COURSEWORK QUESTION
LLB (Hons) Programmes
Deadline:
Tuesday 16 August
2016, 2.00 p.m.
Maximum word limit: 2,500
Candidates must answer
both
questions
and submit
them
in one document
. You
should use legal authorities (especially cases and legislation) to support your answers
throughout.
Candidates are expected to adhere to the word limit for each part of the answer. No
unused words from one part are to be used in the other part.
Question 1
Word lim
it: 1,250
The commission of a crim
inal offence usually requires a positive act. Further,
Lord
Denning in
Bratty v Attorney
–
Gene
ral of Northern Ireland [1963]
AC 386 (HL)
stated “
the requirement that it should be a voluntary act is essential…in every crimin
al
case
.
”
However, there are many exceptions to this
legal “
rule
”.
S
ome commentators,
suggest that there are so many exceptions to the “rule”, that it is
,
to some extent, a
fiction.
Explain
the term
‘
omission
’
and
e
valuate the above statement using
decided
cases and academic opinion.
In your answer, outline the
arguments
for and
against imposing criminal liability for omissions.
AND
Question 2
Word limit: 1,250
Tom and Jerry
,
his wife, own a farm
. B
usiness has been
bad
lately and they are
struggling financially.
One day
Jerry suggests that they should refurbish a
barn on
their land
to expand the business.
Tom
is
furious
and
says
to Jerry
;
“You can forget it,
we don’t
have
the money
,
it would be b
etter to burn it down
.”
Tom
leaves to
go
to the
wholesalers to buy animal food.
Jerry
set
s
fire
to the barn, believing that is what Tom wants her to do
.
On arriving
home,
Tom
sees the fire
and
Jerry
standing nearby,
smiling
.
Tom
runs into
the
ir
house,
picks
up Jerry’
s
favourite
china
plates
and says to
her
,
“
What have you done?
I am going to
smash
these
to pieces
!
”
LL
B CRIMINAL LAW
COURSEWORK
Law School
2
OF 2
Je
rry, infuriated, grabs a
spade and ru
ns towards
where Tom has
parked his
truck
,
holds the spade over the truck
and says
;
“go on then, I dare you”.
Tom puts the china
plates back on the table. Jerry starts crying
and
d
rops the spade
.
Later, Emma, their
employee,
arrives for work. Tom and Jerry tell
Emma
that they
cannot afford to
employ her
any more. Emma is
angry
and bitter
at the news.
Emma
goes into the garage, fi
nds a pair of cable cutters and
when no
–
one is looking,
cuts the
brake cable
on Tom’s truck
.
Tom is going to be driving the truck to the farmers market
later that day.
Advise the parties
as to
t
he
i
r criminal liability for criminal damage, if any.
OSCOLA footnote style referencing.
Double spaced.
Font size 12 Arial.
Microsoft word document.
Blank margin one inch on both sides of each page.
Maximum 2,500 words.
