What Is the ‘Normal Meaning’ of the Intention

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“according to Lord Bridge in Moloney [1985] AC 905, in the great majority of murder trails the judge when summing up should tell the jury to give intention its ‘normal meaning’. What is the ‘normal meaning’ of the intention, and in what circumstances should the judge give a further explanation”. This essay aims to examine, what is the ‘normal meaning’ of intention. This essay is going to discuss the concept of intention in English criminal law. The answer is going to look at the key elements that make up intention, use relevant case law and academic opinion to support the discussion. In English criminal law, offences which require proof of mens rea, the mental element of a crime, can take the form of intention, recklessness and negligence. The concept of intention has over the years been a challenging area for the courts as it is difficult to define. The legal definition of intention can be said to be ‘the decision to bring about a prohibited consequence’ (Mohan). Intention can be divided into two levels, direct intent and oblique intent. Direct intent refers to a defendant’s aim, purpose or desire for the specific consequence to occur. In the case of Bryne 1960, the defendant was a sadistic psychopath who enjoyed torturing and killing people. He strangled his victim to death then cut up the body. This was direct intent to kill regardless of the defendant’s mental condition. Oblique intention can be described as, when the defendant did not desire the result, but it was a virtually certain consequence of the act, and the accused realised this and went ahead anyway. It should be noted that Lord Steyn suggested obiter, in the House of Lords judgement of R v Woollin, that ‘intention’ did not necessarily have precisely the same meaning in every context in criminal law. He suggested that for some offences nothing less than purpose (direct intention) would be

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