Essay on Omission: Law and Moral Duty

Submitted By cramper2014
Words: 657
Pages: 3
Open Document
Moral and Legal duty: There are many instances where we can see a moral duty to act. However, as Stephan J. stated a person does not have to act if there is not a legal duty to. For this reason the difference between a moral and legal duty can be difficult. A person could watch a child fall of a cliff but does not have to stop the child from doing so. This raises serious issues morally, but under legal rights a stranger would not have to act. This is a problem on the law of omissions and shows our need for Good Samaritan Law.

Strict Liability offences: It can appear vastly unfair that there can be a crime that is strict liability and can also be committed through an omission. This means that all that needs to be proven is that the defendant failed to act, the mens rea is irrelevant. This is illustrated in the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act (2004) which makes it clear that any member of a household where a child dies to due to domestic violence will be liable. This raises serious policy issues as surely a defendant should not be liable of a strict liability offence and failure to act.

Where a duty exists: The concept of a duty can be extended to a vast amount of areas. This is illustrated by Khan and Khan (1998) where the Court of Appeal made it clear that due to judge and jury deciding where a duty exists that the area covered by the law on omissions will continue to grow. This could cause serious problems for human liberty and it would mean that it would be reduced to the extent that we are not free to act in any situation.

When does a duty cease to exist: If the defendant has formed a duty of care then how to they get out of this duty? This is one problem on the law. This is because a defendant may take on a voluntary duty of care of an individual but then wish to make this duty cease to exist – how does this occur? This can be a serious problem for the law on omissions as a person may be unable to escape a duty of care and liability will be imposed for any harm that they could have avoided.

Contractual duty: A person bound by contract to have a duty may be at risk of harm themselves, does this appear fair? This is one of the major problems with the creation of a contractual duty of care as it appears unreasonable that the defendant should put
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Omission: Law and Moral Duty

Accounting: Duty of Care and Neighbour Principle Essay example

Famous cases: Donoghue v Stevenson Learn how a simple snail and a bottle of ginger beer were responsible for the birth of the modern law of negligence. On Sunday 26th August 1928 May Donoghue sat in a café with a friend. The friend ordered and paid for some ginger beer, which came in a bottle made from dark opaque glass. Donoghue drank some of the contents then her friend proceeded to pour the remainder of the contents of the bottle into the tumbler when a snail, which was beginning to rot, floated…

Words 2011 - Pages 9

Tort Law of Negligence Essay

breaches of duty that results to injury to another person to whom the duty breached is owed. Like all other torts, the requirements for this are duty, breach of duty by the defendant, causation and injury(Stuhmcke and Corporation.E 2001). However, this form of tort differs from intentional tort as regards the manner the duty is breached. In torts of negligence, duties are breached by negligence and not by intent. Negligence is conduct that falls below the standard of care established by law for the protection…

Words 1562 - Pages 7

Euthanasia Research Paper

alternative solution for a number of ill and suffering patients. United Kingdom’s parliament reasons the costs and benefits of legalizing euthanasia through referencing past court cases. U.K. law journals and reviews - the New Law Journal, The Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, The Criminal Law Review, Cambridge Law Journal - recorded relating court cases that occurred during euthanasia related court cases. A peer judicial in the House of Lords in U.K. parliament known as Lord Brown-Wilkinson, provides…

Words 2728 - Pages 11

Actual Touching: A Case Study

to outline what ought or not ought to be done, in either an action or Process. It symbolises a universal concept, wherein it is applicable to all individuals, all the development of moral concepts, attitudes, and action plans should pertain to all individuals equally. It has a superseding importance, wherein The Law, Politics, and…

Words 2434 - Pages 10

Negligence - Duty of Care Essay

EXISTENCE OF A DUTY Before 1932 there was no generalised duty of care in negligence. The tort did exist and was applied in particular situations where the courts had decided that a duty should be owed, eg, road accidents, bailments or dangerous goods. In Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562, Lord Atkin attempted to lay down a general principle which would cover all the circumstances where the courts had already held that there could be liability for negligence. He said: "The rule that you…

Words 3559 - Pages 15

Civil Law Essay

Schools are such a fertile environment for civil law and negligence actions due to the high level of duty of care needed for such a large number of students. It is so easy for a carer to turn their back and miss an incident, whether it be a physical incident such as a broken arm, or an emotional incident such as bullying. There is a certain duty of care that all teachers must abide by in the workplace to provide a safe and secure environment for all students, when a teacher does not abide by these…

Words 1239 - Pages 5

Essay on Unit 3

u Law unit 3 Section A - criminal law (offences against the person) [pic] ➢ Non-fatal offences against the person ➢ Fatal offences against the person ➢ Defences ➢ Critical evaluation of law on the offences against the person Summary of non-fatal offences:- |Crime |Actus Reus |Mens Rea |Cases | |Assault |Causing the victim to fear |Intention…

Words 3486 - Pages 14

Active Euthanasia with parental consent Essays

Euthanasia is defined “an action or an omission, aimed at and causally implicated in, the death of another for her/his own sake” (Foot, 1997, as cited in Robert, 2004, p. 145). Euthanasia differs from murder, because the action causing the death is for the sake of the person to be killed. Someone might say that the person wanted to die anyway, so why ending his or her lives can be wrong? Is active euthanasia –acting to end the life of another- ever a right moral action? It is not an easy debate whether…

Words 2032 - Pages 9

Accountability In Nursing

justification for every one of their actions or omissions. Professional accountability is concerned with using professional judgement and skills to make a decision and to take responsibility for that standard of practice in relation to that decision (Rowe, 2000). As new skills develop and are undertaken, a non-medical prescriber has a duty to examine the significance of accountability and it should become an essential part of the role (Eby…

Words 2147 - Pages 9

Philosophy Final Review Essay

good or what makes an action practically rational what to do, what action is need for some goal. According to Kan'ts moral philosophy, it is defined as the capacity of a rational being to act according to principles (i.e., according to the conception of laws). Unlike the ethical intuitionism Kant never held that practical reason intuits the rightness of particular actions or moral principles. For him, practical reason was basically formal rather than material, a framework of formative principles…

Words 4122 - Pages 17