Explain the requirements for the offence of murder
Murder is defined by Sir Edward Coke as the unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in being under the queens peace with malice aforethought, express or implied.A killing is unlawful if there is no defence, such as self-defence. A reasonable creature in being is a human that is alive, not including a foetus.The queens peace applies when not in a situation of war, when killing is therefore justified legally.Malice aforethought is outdated languages and for all intensive purposes means intention to kill or cause really serious harm.Only when all of these criteria are satisfied and there are no applicable defences will a person be guilty of murder.
CH
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