LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Murder: Persons
built 187 days ago
To repeat, a common law murder is defined as the unlawful killing of a human person with malice aforethought. Malice aforethought exists if the defendant acts with any of the following states of mind:
Source:
Most countries allow conditions that "affect the balance of the mind" to be regarded as mitigating circumstances against murder. This means that a person may be found guilty of "manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility" rather than murder, if it can be proved that they were suffering from a condition that affected their judgement at the time. Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and medication side-effects are examples of conditions that may be taken into account when assessing responsibility. A somewhat different defense is insanity, which is almost exclusively used in cases of psychosis such as that caused by schizophrenia. See ... crime of passion.
Source:
A person who unintentionally causes the death of another person ... may be charged with murder under the depraved-heart theory. Depraved-heart murder refers to a killing that results from gross negligence. For example, assume that a man is practicing shooting his firearm in his backyard, located in a suburban area. If the man accidentally shoots and kills someone, he can be charged with murder under the depraved-heart theory.
Source:
MURDER - This, one of the most important crimes that can be committed against individuals, has been variously defined. Hawkins defines it to be the wilful killing of any subject whatever, with malice aforethought, whether the person slain shall be an Englishman or a foreigner. Russell says, murder is the killing of any person under the king's peace, with malice prepense or aforethought, either express or implied by law. And Sir Edward Coke defines or rather describes this offence to be, " when a person of sound mind and discretion, unlawfully killeth any reasonable creature in being, and under the king's peace, with malice aforethought either express or implied."
Source:
"Assassination" is another word for murder when a person is hired by another. The word is commonly used when the person who was killed was a famous celeberty or was a big political player. People who carry out assassinations are called "assassins". The person carrying out the killing may do so for political reasons, money, or for other reasons, such as favors owed.
Source:
Acting in self defense or in defense of another person is generally accepted as legal justifications for killing a person in situations that would otherwise have been murder. However, a self defense killing might be considered manslaughter if the killer established control of the situation before the killing took place. In the case of self-defense it is called a justifiable homicide. [7]
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Persons