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Criminal Law Keyed to Ohlin
The Queen v. Dudley & Stephens
Citation:
14 Q.B.D. 273 (1884)ProfessorScott Caron
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
The defendants had a trial, however, the jury returned a special verdict, asking the Queen’s Bench Division to make a ruling on the defendant’s culpability based off of the facts they decided.
The jury found the facts to be that the defendants, along with other men, were stuck on a boat during a storm. They had no supply of water and quickly ran out of their supply of food. After the fourth day of being stuck, they had no food until the twentieth day, in which the murder of Parker occurred. Parker was the youngest and weakest among the men. The defendants put a knife to his throat and killed him. All men fed upon his body and were rescued four days later. The jury concluded that it was likely that all of the seamen would have died due to starvation before they were rescued, and that Parker would likely have died before the other three men.
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Topic Resources
Topic Outline
DefensesTopic Refresher Course
Introduction to Defenses and Self Defense