Unit 23-P6 Aspects of the Legal System & Law Making Process

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The Case of R v Dudley & Stephens 1) Briefly state what happened in R v Dudley & Stephens In the case of R v Dudley & Stephens there was a sailboat that was struck by a wave due to the wave the boat was sinking and there was 3 people on the lifeboat that people had to get on. Steven, Stephens and Parker. The 3 then went on to an island where they were basically stranded and had nowhere to go. They spent 20 days on the Island before coming to a decision that they wanted to perform a cannibalism act on Richard Parker the 17 year old. After 4 days the two then saw a rescue which was coming to get them, which was by a German sailing barque Montezuma which returned the men to Falmouth, Cornwall. 2) What was the decision made in this case? In the case of R v Dudley & Stephens where charged with murder but they both stated how it was needed for them to survive. The judges of the divisional courts of the Queen ’s Bench division state the defence of necessity cannot justify the killing of another person. The Case of Re A (Year 2000) 1) Briefly state what happened in Re A There were Siamese twins who were joined at the heart. For the twins a surgical operation was needed to save the life’s of one twin whilst joined a lot of the pressure was placed on Jodie who is the stronger twin. The doctors even said that this will cause the death of both twins. Mr Johnson was left to decide the case without any direct precedents to guide him but reasoned by analogy with Airedale NHS Trust v Bland where it was declared acceptable to remove life support. 2) What was the decision made in this case? The Court of Appeal (Civil Division) held that it was the best thing to do which was get Jodie separated from her twin which was necessary and not unlawful. Imagine a similar case came before the courts in 2009. Which case decision would have to be followed according to the rules of

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