Manslaughter

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Manslaughter \Man"slaugh`ter\, n.
     1. The slaying of a human being; destruction of men.
        --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Law) The unlawful killing of a man, either in negligence


        or incidentally to the commission of some unlawful act,
        but without specific malice, or upon a sudden excitement
        of anger.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  manslaughter
       n : homicide without malice aforethought

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MANSLAUGHTER, crim. law. The unlawful killing of another without malice 
  either express or implied. 4 Bl. Com. 190 1 Hale, P. C. 466. The 
  distinctions between manslaughter and murder, consists in the following. In 
  the former, though the act which occasions the death be unlawful, or likely 
  to be attended with bodily mischief, yet the malice, either express or 
  implied, which is the very essence of murder, is presumed to be wanting in 
  manslaughter. 1 East, P. C. 218 Foster, 290. 
       2. It also differs from murder in this, that there can be no 
  accessaries before the fact, there having been no time for premeditation. 1 
  Hale, P. C. 437; 1 Russ. Cr. 485. Manslaughter is voluntary, when it happens 
  upon a sudden heat; or involuntary, when it takes place in the commission of 
  some unlawful act. 
       3. The cases of manslaughter may be classed as follows those which take 
  place in consequence of, 1. Provocation. 2. Mutual combat. 3. Resistance to 
  public officers, &c. 4. Killing in the prosecution of an unlawful or wanton 
  act. 5. Killing in the prosecution of a lawful act, improperly performed, or 
  performed without lawful authority. 
       4.-1. The provocation which reduces the killing from murder to 
  manslaughter is an answer to the presumption of malice which the law raises 
  in every case of homicide; it is therefore no answer when express malice is 
  proved. 1 Russ. Cr, 440; Foster, 132; 1 East, P. C. 239; and to be available 
  the provocation must have been reasonable and recent, for no words or slight 
  provocation will be sufficient, and if the party, has had time to cool, 
  malice will be inferred. 
       5.-2. In cases of mutual combat, it is generally manslaughter only 
  when one of the parties is killed. When death ensues from duelling the rule 
  is different, and such killing is murder. 
       6.-3. The killing of an officer by resistance to him while acting 
  under lawful authority is murder; but if the officer be acting under a void 
  or illegal authority, or out of his jurisdiction, the killing is 
  manslaughter, or excusable homicide, according to the circumstances of the 
  case. 1 Moody, C. C. 80, 132; 1 Hale, P. C. 458; 1 East, P. C. 314; 2 Stark. 
  N. P. C. 205; S. C. 3 E. C. L. R. 315. 
       7.-4. Killing a person while doing an act of mere wantonness, is 
  manslaughter as, if a person throws down stones in a coal-pit, by which a 
  man is killed, although the offender was only a trespasser. Lewin, C. C. 
  179. 
       8.-5. When death ensues from the performance of a lawful act, it may, 
  in consequence of the negligence of the offender, amount to manslaughter. 
  For instance, if the death has been, occasioned by negligent driving. 1 
  East, P. C. 263; 1 C. & P. 320 S. C. 9 E. C. L. R. 408; 6 C. & P. 629; S. C. 
  25 E. C. L. R. 569. Again, when death ensues, from the gross negligence of a 
  medical or surgical practitioner, it is manslaughter. 1 Hale, P. C. 429; 3 
  C. & P. 632; S. C. 14 E, C. L. R. 495.