Case Number
CrimA 1/52
Date Decided
4-29-1954
Decision Type
Appellate
Document Type
Full Opinion
Abstract
The effect of the provision in section 217 of the Criminal Code Ordinance, 1936, 1) that "an unlawful omission is an omission amounting to culpable negligence to discharge a duty (of care)..." is that a person can be convicted of the offence of manslaughter, defined in section 212 2) as "causing the death of another person by an unlawful act or omission", only where it is proved:
(a) that the lack of care on the part of the accused amounted to "gross negligence", that is to say, was a serious divergence from the standard of reasonable care, and
(b) that the accused acted as he did out of "recklessness", that is to say, after foreseeing that his conduct was liable to endanger the life or person of another.
Semble, where the negligence of the accused does not amount to gross negligence, but his recklessness expresses itself in indifference to the consequences of his omission, it is possible and also right to convict him of manslaughter as defined in section 212.
The accused, an architect supervising the work of repairing the roofs of abandoned houses in a village, being in need of a certain material for the work, went with a party of workmen to dig that material out of a bank at the roadside. The bank had a portion overhanging a cavity like a roof, and the accused, who was supervising the operation, directed the workmen to dig in the cavity. Two officials of the Public Works Department passed by and warned the accused of the danger of a landfall. Notwithstanding that warning, the digging proceeded. The bank fell in and two workmen were killed.
Held : the accused was guilty of manslaughter.
Held further: though the sentence of six months' imprisonment imposed upon the accused by the District Court was not, in the circumstances, excessive, it would nevertheless not be confirmed on appeal, the offence having been committed in January, 1950, and the appeal having been heard only in January, 1954.
Keywords
Criminal Law -- Criminal responsibility, Criminal Law -- Prosecution, Torts -- Negligence
Recommended Citation
Agranat, Shimon; Goitein, David; and Sussman, Yoel, "Deutsch v. Attorney General" (1954). Translated Opinions. 126.
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/iscp-opinions/126
