Murder is the gravest charge in English criminal law, and it carries a mandatory life sentence. For a solicitor, that stakes everything on the detail: whether the prosecution can prove each element, whether the chain of causation holds, and whether a defence opens the door to acquittal or a lesser conviction. Knowing exactly what must be established — and what can defeat it — is the difference between a murder conviction and manslaughter, or freedom.
This lesson builds that knowledge step by step:
- The Offence and Actus Reus — what murder is, who must prove what, and how an unlawful killing can arise from an act or an omission.
- Causation — the two-stage test linking the defendant's conduct to the death, and what does (and doesn't) break the chain.
- Mens Rea — the intention to kill or cause really serious harm, including oblique intention and transferred malice.
- Complete Defences — defences such as self-defence that lead to full acquittal, and why consent is never one.
- Partial Defences — loss of control, diminished responsibility, and suicide pacts, which reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter.
- Sentencing — how the mandatory life sentence, the minimum term, and whole life orders actually operate.