Numbers
WJEC A-Level Law 603-1978-1
Law Making in Wales and the UK
Topic overviewLegal rules, sources of law and the rule of lawParliamentary sovereignty, the separation of powers and the Royal PrerogativeThe composition and role of ParliamentThe legislative process at WestminsterThe Senedd and law making in WalesThe devolution settlement and the role of the Supreme CourtInfluences on law making and law reform
Delegated Legislation
Topic overviewThe nature and authority of delegated legislationStatutory instrumentsBy-laws and Orders in CouncilDelegated legislation in Wales and the devolution settlementParliamentary controls on delegated legislationControl by the courts and judicial reviewReasons for delegated legislation and its advantages and disadvantages
Statutory Interpretation
Judicial Precedent
The Civil Courts and Dispute Resolution
The Criminal Process and the Criminal Courts
Topic overviewClassification of offences and the criminal processThe magistrates' courts and the Crown CourtAppeals in criminal casesThe jury at trial: verdicts, secrecy and the coroner's juryCriticisms of and alternatives to the jury systemThe aims and theories of sentencingSentencing powers and the sentencing of youths
Legal Personnel and the Judiciary
Topic overviewBarristers: training, role and rights of audienceSolicitors: training, role and workLegal executives and paralegalsRegulation of the legal professions and the fusion debateThe judiciary: hierarchy, role and selectionJudicial independence, the rule of law and the constitutional positionLay magistrates and district judges
Access to Justice and Funding
Topic overviewAccess to justice and the development of legal aidCivil legal aid: scope and servicesMeans testing, merits testing and the statutory chargeCriminal legal aid and the Public Defender ServiceConditional fee agreements and private fundingAdvice agencies and other sources of helpEvaluating access to justice after the 2012 reforms
Tort: Rules and Theory
Topic overviewThe nature and origins of the law of tortCategories of tort and the interests protectedFault and strict liabilityCorrective justice and the economic justificationRetributive and distributive justice in tortTheories of justice and the balancing of interestsCriticisms of the tort systemReform and alternatives to tort
Tort: Negligence
Tort: Occupiers' Liability
Tort: Remedies
Human Rights: Rules and TheoryHuman rights
Topic overviewThe meaning of rights and the distinction between rights and libertiesThe European Convention on Human Rights: origins, scope and machineryAbsolute, limited and qualified rightsThe Human Rights Act 1998 and its key sectionsHuman rights in the devolution settlements of Wales, Scotland and Northern IrelandParliament, the courts and the entrenchment debateCriticisms of human rights, law and morality and law and justice
Human Rights: Key Convention ProvisionsHuman rights
Topic overviewArticle 8 and the scope of private and family life, home and correspondenceNegative and positive obligations under Article 8Article 8(2) and the justification of an interferenceArticle 10 and the right to freedom of expressionArticle 11 and freedom of peaceful assembly and associationBalancing Article 8 against Article 10Evaluating the qualified rights and their exceptions
Human Rights: RestrictionsHuman rights
Topic overviewPublic order offences and the control of protestPolice powers of stop, search and entryArrest, detention and the rights of a person in police custodyTrespass, harassment and actions against the policeInterception of communications and access to personal informationConfidentiality, defamation and the protection of reputationObscenity and the arguments for and against restriction
Human Rights: EnforcementHuman rights
Topic overviewThe domestic courts and the Strasbourg case lawCompatible interpretation and declarations of incompatibilityPublic authorities, victims and remedies under sections 6 to 8The judicial review procedureThe grounds for judicial reviewThe European Court of Human RightsEvaluating the enforcement of human rights
Human Rights: Protection and ReformHuman rights
Topic overviewHow rights are protected in the United Kingdom todayThe Equality and Human Rights CommissionCriticisms of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the case for changeDefending the Human Rights Act 1998 as it standsThe case for a United Kingdom Bill of RightsThe case against a United Kingdom Bill of RightsReform, devolution and the United Kingdom's place in the Convention system
Contract: Rules and TheoryContract
Topic overviewOrigins, definition and function of contract lawFreedom of contract and the classical theory of bargainContract law and economic developmentFreedom of contract and consumer protectionJudicial decisions, legislation and European influence on contractHuman rights, morality and justice in the law of contractArguments for a European or global law of contract
Contract: FormationContract
Topic overviewOffer and invitation to treatAcceptance, counter-offers and the ending of an offerConsideration and existing dutiesPayment of less than the debt, and promissory estoppelIntention to create legal relationsPrivity of contract and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999Evaluating the rules of agreement and consideration
Contract: TermsContract
Contract: Misrepresentation and DuressContract
Topic overviewActionable misrepresentation and the elements of a claimFraudulent misrepresentationNegligent misrepresentation and the Misrepresentation Act 1967Innocent misrepresentation, rescission and its barsEconomic duressDuress to the person and undue influence distinguishedEvaluating misrepresentation and duress
Contract: DischargeContract
Topic overviewDischarge by performance and the entire obligations ruleExceptions to the entire obligations rule and standards of performanceDischarge by agreementDischarge by breach, actual and anticipatoryFrustration and when a contract is frustratedThe effects of frustration and the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943Evaluating the rules on discharge
Contract: RemediesContract
Criminal Law: Rules and TheoryCriminal
Topic overviewThe definition of crime and the purposes of criminal lawBurden and standard of proofThe Crown Prosecution Service, the Attorney General and the DPPBail and remand in custodyThe trial process, youth justice and appealsLaw and morality, law and justice in the criminal lawCodification and the case for reforming criminal law
Criminal Law: General Elements of LiabilityCriminal
Criminal Law: Offences Against the PersonCriminal
Topic overviewMurder: actus reus and mens reaVoluntary manslaughter: loss of controlVoluntary manslaughter: diminished responsibilityInvoluntary manslaughter: unlawful act and gross negligenceAssault and batteryActual bodily harm, wounding and grievous bodily harmEvaluating the law on homicide and non-fatal offences
Criminal Law: Property OffencesCriminal
Topic overviewTheft: appropriation and propertyTheft: belonging to anotherTheft: dishonesty and intention permanently to depriveRobbery under section 8 of the Theft Act 1968Burglary: entry, trespass and buildingsBurglary under sections 9(1)(a) and 9(1)(b), and aggravated burglaryEvaluating the law on theft, robbery and burglary
Criminal Law: DefencesCriminal
Criminal Law: Preliminary OffencesCriminal
Topic overviewAttempt: the statutory definition and its scopeThe actus reus: acts more than merely preparatoryApplying the more than merely preparatory test to the casesThe mens rea of attemptAttempting the impossibleAttempt, the completed offence and abandonmentEvaluating the law on attempts and proposals for reform
Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person
- 7 subtopics
- 21 things to know
- A2 Units 3 and 4
- Criminal Law, one of three A2 areas of which two are studied
What Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person covers
Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person is examined in A2 Units 3 and 4 — Criminal Law, one of three areas of which a student studies two. Unit 3 applies these rules to a scenario and Unit 4 evaluates them.. It covers murder: actus reus and mens rea, voluntary manslaughter: loss of control, voluntary manslaughter: diminished responsibility, involuntary manslaughter: unlawful act and gross negligence, assault and battery, actual bodily harm, wounding and grievous bodily harm and evaluating the law on homicide and non-fatal offences.
Where it is assessed
A2 Units 3 and 4
criminal law — one of three areas of which two are studied, applied in one paper and evaluated in the other.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 7 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Murder: actus reus and mens reaReasonable person in being, mens rea of murder and grievous bodily harm.Open →
- Voluntary manslaughter: loss of controlVoluntary manslaughter, three elements of loss of control and two qualifying triggers.Open →
- Voluntary manslaughter: diminished responsibilityFour elements of diminished responsibility as reformed and three abilities that must be substantially impaired.Open →
- Involuntary manslaughter: unlawful act and gross negligenceTwo main forms of involuntary manslaughter, four elements of unlawful act manslaughter and test of dangerousness in unlawful act manslaughter.Open →
- Assault and batteryBattery as a criminal offence and mens rea of assault and of battery.Open →
- Actual bodily harm, wounding and grievous bodily harmRecall questions on psychiatric injury and cutting hair, the legal meaning of a wound, how harm is assessed for a frail victim, and the mens rea each section requires.Open →
- Evaluating the law on homicide and non-fatal offencesRecall questions on the language and sentencing structure of the 1861 Act, why reform has not been enacted, the mandatory life sentence, the 2006 proposals, and gross negligence manslaughter.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
State the elements of gross negligence manslaughter.
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Why has gross negligence manslaughter been criticised as circular?
Key term
What is voluntary manslaughter?
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Which statute created diminished responsibility, and which reformed it?
Key term
Define assault.
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Which section creates the offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm?
Evaluation
Why is the word maliciously criticised in the 1861 Act?
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Is murder a statutory or a common law offence?
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Which statute created the defence of loss of control?
Key term
State the four elements of diminished responsibility as reformed.
Key term
Define battery as a criminal offence.
Key term
What must the prosecution prove for a section 47 offence?
Key term
What did the Law Commission recommend in place of the 1861 offences?
Key term
What is meant by a reasonable creature in being?
Key term
State the three elements of loss of control.
Key term
Name the three abilities that must be substantially impaired.
Key term
What distinguishes involuntary manslaughter from murder?
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What level of force is needed for a battery?
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How is actual bodily harm defined?
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Why have reforms to non-fatal offences not been enacted?
Take Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Voluntary manslaughter vs Involuntary manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter: a killing with the mens rea for murder reduced by a partial defence. Involuntary manslaughter: a killing without any intention to kill or to cause really serious harm.
Loss of control vs Diminished responsibility
Loss of control: resting on a qualifying trigger and how a person of ordinary tolerance would have reacted. Diminished responsibility: resting on a recognised medical condition substantially impairing the defendant.
Constructive manslaughter vs Gross negligence manslaughter
Constructive manslaughter: requiring a dangerous criminal act. Gross negligence manslaughter: requiring a breach of duty carrying a foreseeable risk of death.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Give the classic definition of murder.
Model answer
Murder is the unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being, under the King's or Queen's peace, with malice aforethought, express or implied.
- 2
Is murder a statutory or a common law offence?
Model answer
Murder is a common law offence defined by the judges, although statutes such as the Homicide Act 1957 have modified the defences available to it.
- 3
What is meant by a reasonable person in being?
Model answer
The victim must be a living human being, so a foetus that has not been born alive cannot be murdered, nor can a person who is already dead.
- 4
When is a person legally dead for the purposes of murder?
Model answer
Death is taken to occur when the brain stem has irreversibly ceased to function, so a body kept breathing by a ventilator may already be dead in law.
- 5
Why does switching off a life support machine not break the chain of causation?
Model answer
R v Malcherek and Steel (1981) held that where the patient's brain stem has died, doctors withdrawing treatment do not cause the death; the original injury does.
- 6
What does the requirement that the killing be under the King's or Queen's peace exclude?
Model answer
Killing an enemy combatant in the course of war is not murder, although killing a prisoner of war or a civilian remains murder.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person revision questions
- What does Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person cover in WJEC A-Level Law?
- 7 subtopics: murder: actus reus and mens rea, voluntary manslaughter: loss of control, voluntary manslaughter: diminished responsibility, involuntary manslaughter: unlawful act and gross negligence, assault and battery, actual bodily harm, wounding and grievous bodily harm and evaluating the law on homicide and non-fatal offences. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person organised?
- By the WJEC 603-1978-1 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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