General Duty In English Criminal Law

Erica McDonagh
Philip Handler
1326 Words
14/07/15

Should English Criminal Law impose a general duty on citizens to assist persons who are in peril?

The general duty to assist a person in peril could also be defined as a Good Samaritan law. A Good Samaritan law offers legal protection to individuals who help to aid a person in peril. The Good Samaritan laws were named after a parable told in Luke 10:25-37 of the bible. The story tells us about a traveler giving aid to a person of a different ethnic background in peril.
This applies as long as the Good Samaritan uses reasonable care when providing assistance, he/she cannot be sued if the person they are trying to help is unintentionally injured further. The main part of this definition is
An omission can amount to the Actus Reus of a crime, however, the general rule regarding omissions is that there is no liability for a failure to act. For example if you see a person drowning you have no obligation to help them. This could be seen as a gap in the law therefore it could said that this is a reason that English Criminal law should impose a duty on general citizens to assist a person in peril. Although this is the general rule there are exceptions. The first exception is when there is a statutory duty to act for example stopping at a red light under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Another example is where there is a contractual duty to act. This where it states in a defendants employment contract that they must act. A case example would be in R v Pitwood where the defendant failed to lower the level crossing barrier which resulted in the victim dying. The defendant was found guilty of manslaughter as he had breached his contractual duty. Finally the third exception is when the duty is imposed by law. There are three situations in which this may happen; failing to rectify a dangerous situation as in R v Miller, when there has been a voluntary acceptance of a duty as in Dobinson v Stone and finally misconduct in a public office as in R v
For example if a citizen assisted a person who was choking; provided that they are trained in first aid it will reduce the chances of that person dying therefore decreasing death rates. Furthermore if the citizen could prevent the peril occurring in the first place for example splitting up a fight before the victim is seriously injured(becoming in peril) this will reduce the need to call an ambulance therefore saving time and medical expenses which is a major factor in British parliament. A second reason for having a Good Samaritan law in England is that it will provide protection form error. This means that although the citizen is trying to help the person in peril by conducting first aid mistakes may happen and as long as the harm was not intentionally caused then the citizen would not be charged. For example if the citizen was performing CPR and broke the individuals ribs whilst doing so they would not be charged for the injuries as the CPR was essential to helping the individual in peril and the breaking of ribs is a common side effect of CPR as great force is required. Without the Good Samaritan law being in place the citizen would be held liable for the further injuries caused to the individual in