Manslaughter

“ And, secondly, if he be proved to have died of the injury within that time, we must duly weigh the previous circumstances and the provocation, to ascertain, if the act done be manslaughter or murder.
Those, who vociferate, most loudly, against the law, for its hesitancy, and demand the immediate descent of the executioner’s axe, upon the neck of the victim, will be the very first fervently to supplicate, for the law’s most merciful carefulness of life, should a father, a brother, or a son be charged with crime, and involved in the complicated meshes of presumptive evidence. ”

“ Manslaughter is the willful and unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought, and it occupies a midway position between a state of case where the law of self-defense would apply, and a state of case where the law defining 'murder' applies.' This language, and what was said in other parts of the charge upon the subject of manslaughter, as set out in the record, is not open to exception. ”

“ The party who is killed, at the time of the killing, must offer some provocation to produce a certain condition of mind. Now, what is the character of that provocation that can be recognized by the law as being sufficient to reduce the grade of the crime from murder to manslaughter? He cannot produce it by mere words, because mere words alone do not excuse even a simple assault. Any words offered at the time do not reduce the grade of the killing from murder to manslaughter. ”

“ But if, on a sudden quarrel, parties presently fetch their weapons, and go into a field and fight, and one of them is killed, that is manslaughter, because it is presumed that their blood never cooled. Otherwise, if the parties appoint the next day to meet, or even the same day, at such an interval as that their passion may have subsided, or if{616} from circumstances in the case, it may be reasonably presumed that their judgment had controlled the first transports, if death then ensue, it is murder. ”

“ Passing over three cases of culpable negligence resulting in death, we come to thirty-seven homicides during quarrels, some of which might have been technically classified as murders, but which being committed "in the heat of passion," in practically every instance resulted in a verdict of manslaughter. ”

“ Practically there is no definite line dividing murder in the second degree from manslaughter. A clever expert lawyer, whether on the side of prosecution or the defence, has little difficulty in carrying his case over the border in the one direction or the other. Money, and the social position of the accused, are important factors in adjusting the delicate balance between murder in the second degree and manslaughter. ”

“ If there be a sudden falling out and fighting and one is killed in heat of blood, then the law calls it manslaughter, but in such a case as this, that happens on slight words, the prisoner calls the deceased a ‘lousie dog,’ and the deceased says, ‘If I be so, you have made me so,’ can this be a reasonable cause to kill him? and if you believe them not to be a reasonable cause of provocation I cannot see what distinction can be made, but that the prisoner is guilty of murder. ”

“ When a witness, for example, swears, directly and unhesitatingly, that he saw the prisoner inflict a wound, with a deadly weapon, upon another person—that he saw that other person instantly fall, and die shortly after, this is positive evidence of something. Yet the act may be murder, or it may be manslaughter, or it may be justifiable homicide. Murder consists of three parts, the malice prepense, the blow inflicted or means employed, and the death ensuing, within a time prescribed by law. There can be no murder, if either of these parts be absent. ”

“ We have use neither of the wheel nor of the bar, as in other countries; but, when wilful manslaughter is perpetrated, beside hanging, the offender hath his right hand commonly stricken off before or near unto the place where the act was done, after which he is led forth to the place of execution, and there put to death according to the law. ”

“ Manslaughter is an independent crime distinct from murder, and the legislature annexes to the offence, a description of the place in which it must be committed in order to give the Court jurisdiction. The same section then proceeds to enumerate certain other crimes which are accessorial in their nature, without any description of places. To manslaughter, the principal crime, the right to punish which depends on the place in which it is committed, Congress has annexed a description of place. ”

“ When a workman flings down a stone or piece of timber into the street, and kills a man; this may be either misadventure, manslaughter, or murder, according to the circumstances under which the original act was done: if it were in a country village, where few passengers are, and he calls out to all people to have a care, it is misadventure only; but if it were in London, or other populous town, where people are continually passing, it is manslaughter, though he gives loud warning; and murder, if he knows of their passing, and gives no warning at all. ”

“ And in vain may nature plead her wrongs and the tempest of the passions to excuse the indiscretion of her fitful moments. It may be murder, but if so, it must find its guilt, not in the human disposition, but in a policy that knows no frailty and shows no mercy. That policy is yet to be declared; I will not suppose its intended application to this case, and I shall, therefore, for the present, take the liberty of discussing the defense upon the received principles which define murder and distinguish it from manslaughter.
Murder is the felonious killing of a human creature with deliberation. ”

“ Suffice it to say that after a careful review of the record, we have reached the conclusion that when the evidence on the part of the state is viewed in the most favorable light to the state, the highest degree of homicide which it can support is voluntary manslaughter. ”

“ I must call your attention to Section 30 of the Penal Law, which says that whenever a crime is distinguished into degrees, the jury, if they convict, must find the degree of the crime of which the prisoner is guilty. Manslaughter is a crime distinguished into degrees—namely, the first and the second degree. ”

“ It is impossible to suppose that the ‘appeasement’ mentioned in the inscription could have ever been applied in cases of attempted murder. It would be absurd to compensate relatives who had lost nothing, [195] and to ignore the person on whose life the attempt was made. Demosthenes definitely cites [13] this law of ‘appeasement’ as referring to manslaughter. ”

“ Voluntary and Involuntary Homicide
It is generally [131] asserted that primitive societies recognise no distinction either between wilful murder and manslaughter (which presumes a certain degree of guilt) , or even between wilful murder and accidental slaying. The reason assigned is that bloodshed, even in comparatively advanced civilisations, is a ‘civil’ rather than a ‘criminal’ offence—a matter for damages and compensation rather than for exemplary punishment. Thus Glotz [132] says: ‘L’intention n’est rien: le fait est tout. ”

“ If a man strikes another with a small stick which is not likely to kill, and which he has no reason to suppose will do more than slight bodily harm, but which [60] does kill the other, he commits manslaughter, not murder. /1/ But if the blow is struck as hard as possible with an iron bar an inch thick, it is murder. /2/ So if, at the time of striking with a switch, the party knows an additional fact, by reason of which he foresees that death will be the consequence of a slight blow, as, for instance, that the other has heart disease, the offence is equally murder. ”

“ Fugitives might, in such a bill, be obliged to work two days for every one they absent themselves.
[43] The shooting at a wild fowl, and killing a man, is homicide by misadventure. Shooting at a pullet, without any design to take it away, is manslaughter; and with a design to take it away, is murder. ”

“ The penalty is either drowning or burning alive: except in the case of a chief or a very rich man, little or no difference is made between wilful murder, justifiable homicide, and accidental manslaughter- -the reason of this, say their jurists, is to make people more careful. ”

“ If any person committ any wilfull murther, which is manslaughter, committed upon premeditated malice, hatred, or Crueltie, not in a mans necessarie and just defence, nor by meere casualtie against his will, he shall be put to death. ”

“ That it is lawful for the master to chastise his slave, and that if death ensues from such chastisement, unless it was intended to produce death, it is like the [Pg 589] case of homicide which is committed by a man in the performance of a lawful act, which is manslaughter only. ”

“ A third head under which, in this cursory account of Crown Law, I shall range other offences that are punished capitally, are those against our fellow subjects, and they are either committed against their lives, their goods or their habitations. With respect to those against life, if one person kill another without any malice aforethought, then that natural tenderness of which the Law of England is full, interposes for the first fact, which in such a case is denominated manslaughter. ”

“ So that, gentlemen, every instance of one man's killing another is not a crime, much less a crime to be punished with death. But to descend to more particulars.
The law divides homicide into three branches; the first is "justifiable," the second "excusable," and the third "felonious." Felonious homicide is subdivided into two branches; the first is murder, which is killing with malice aforethought; the second is manslaughter, which is killing a man on a sudden provocation. Here, gentlemen, are four sorts of homicide ”

“ The homicide has not the characteristic of “malice prepense” which would raise the death to murder, nor the completely accidental nature which would reduce it to homicide by misadventure. It was practically identical, therefore, with manslaughter. ”

“ Manslaughter wants one of the above intents which define murder. It implies an intent to kill or hurt, and that the intent is unjust, but supposes the absence of deliberation, or [403] the presence of a justly provoking cause. But what is justly provoking cause? In our search for the meaning of the expression we cannot consult the vague notions of men as to insults. There would not only be no certainty in them as a guide, but they would strip men of all security for their lives. We must appeal to the common law as it has recognized excusable frailties. ”

“ It sometimes happens that a jury, when there is strong suspicion, but not absolute demonstration, that an act, unquestionably amounting to murder, was committed by the prisoner before them, will find him guilty of manslaughter. ”

“ In the Indian penal code the definitions of murder are so drawn as to limit the offences to cases where it was actually intended to cause death or bodily injury by the acts or omissions of the slayer, and the definition of culpable homicide short of murder is so drawn as to exclude the forms of unintentional manslaughter due to neglect of duty, e.g. ”

“ And, inasmuch as the question in such cases frequently is not only whether there was actually imminent peril to the slayer's life, but whether he entertained an honest belief to that effect upon reasonable grounds, and also whether the killing was in hot blood, and attributable to the infirmity of human nature, rather than to malice aforethought, the views announced by the learned judge would be applicable to manslaughter as well as excusable homicide, the distinction between which is often extremely close. ”

“ We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples? ”

“ Article 128-assault; assault consummated by a battery; aggravated assault
(c) Article 134-negligent homicide
(3) Murder as defined in Article 118 (1) , (2) , and (4) .
(a) Article 80-attempts
(b) Article 119-voluntary manslaughter
(c) Article 134-assault with intent to commit murder
(d) Article 134-assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter". ”

“ That the accused thereby caused bodily injury to the unborn child of that woman.
(2) Killing an unborn child.
(a) That the accused was engaged in the [ (murder (article 118) ) , (voluntary manslaughter (article 119 (a) ) ) , (involuntary manslaughter (article 119 (b) (2) ) ) , (rape (article 120) ) , (robbery (article 122) ) , (maiming (article 124) ) , (assault (article 128) ) , of ] or [burning or setting afire, as arson (article 126) , of (a dwelling inhabited by) (a structure or property known to (be occupied by) (belong to) ) ] a woman ”

“ Whoever with intent to torture (as defined in section 2340) , maims, or disfigures, cuts, bites, or slits the nose, ear, or lip, or cuts out or disables the tongue, or puts out or destroys and eye, or cuts off or disables a limb or any member of another person’ or whoever, and with like intent, throws or pours upon another person, any scalding water, corrosive acid, or caustic substance shall be fines and/or imprisoned not more than twenty years. This is a specific intent crime.
c. Murder, 18 U.S.C. § 1111 (U) Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought. ”

“ He that has committed murder, though he flees for his life, shall be continually haunted with terrors, shall himself flee to the pit, betray himself, and torment himself, like Cain, who, when he had killed his brother, became a fugitive and a vagabond, and trembled continually. 2. The duty of the avenger of blood, whether the magistrate or the next of kin, or whoever are concerned in making inquisition for blood, let them be close and vigorous in the prosecution, and let it not be bought off. Those that acquit the murderer, or do any thing to help him off, come in sharers in the guilt of blood ”