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UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LA1010 PART B ZB

DIPLOMA IN LAW / CertHE COMMON LAW

DIPLOMA IN THE COMMON LAW
LLB
BSc DEGREES WITH LAW

Criminal law

Tuesday 3 May 2016: 11.00 – 13.30

PART B is worth 75% of the marks of the entire examination.

Candidates will have TWO HOURS AND THIRTY MINUTES in which to answer
the questions.

Candidates must answer THREE from the SIX questions in PART B.

Candidates should answer all parts of a question unless otherwise stated.

Permitted materials
Students are permitted to bring into the examination room the following specified
document: one copy of Blackstone’s Statutes on Criminal Law (OUP).

© University of London 2016

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PART B

Candidates must answer THREE questions in this section.

1. Asif is a builder who has been engaged by Sami to replace some broken
tiles on Sami’s roof. While Asif is on the roof Elspeth spots his ladder and
steals it. Not knowing the ladder has been taken, Asif slips off the roof in
trying to locate the top rung. He falls to the ground seriously injured.
Sami, who is watching his favourite football team on television, sees Asif
fall but does nothing until the end of the game 30 minutes later by which
time Asif is near to death. Sami calls for an ambulance and Asif is taken
immediately to hospital but Asif dies soon after arrival. Medical evidence
indicates that if the ambulance had been called promptly Asif would
probably not have died.

Consider the potential criminal liability of Elspeth and Sami. Would your
answer be any different if Elspeth had not stolen the ladder but had
removed it as a joke and had left it nearby?

2. Jane, a customer, asks Roger, a grocer, if his vegetables are organic.

He confirms this to Jane. Roger purchases all his produce from what he
believes is an organic farm but he is not absolutely sure.

Later, Roger goes to a drive-in carwash. He finds that he has no loose

change in his pocket and so, being in a hurry, tries to put a foreign coin in
the slot. The coin does not fit the slot and so he goes to the carwash next
door. This time he is successful with his use of the foreign coin and his car
is washed. He then fills his car up with petrol. On reaching the cash desk
he discovers he has not brought his wallet with him. He tells Ahmed, the
cashier, of his error in relation to the petrol and the foreign coin and tells
him that he will return later to pay. Roger later decides not to return to pay.

Discuss Roger’s potential criminal liability.

3. Mark is in love with Louise who is married to Nick. Mark tells Nick that
Louise has been having an affair with Russell, which is untrue. Nick
confronts Louise and challenges her to deny the accusation. She
refuses angrily, telling Nick that she would have an affair with Russell if
she had the chance as Nick is a ‘loser in a dead-end job’, is no good in
bed and is physically repulsive. In a fury Nick picks up a poker and aims a
blow at Louise. In attempting to avoid the blow, Louise slips over and hits
her head on the fireplace, rendering her unconscious. Nick storms out of
the room shouting, ‘That serves you right.’ When he returns hours later
Louise is dead, having suffered heart failure.

Discuss.

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4. Consider and discuss the potential liability for theft in EACH of the
following situations:

(a) Gibbons, a stamp collector, spots a rare stamp on Orlando’s stamp

stall at a car boot sale. Orlando, who is 12, is selling all his
stamps to raise money for charity. Gibbons offers Orlando £5 for
the stamp although he knows it is worth nearer £50,000. Orlando
accepts and the deal is done.

(b) Alan takes a cheque for £100 drawn by Cherry and made payable
to Barbara. Cherry has £100 in her bank account. Alan opens an
account in the name of Barbara and pays the cheque into the
account causing a transfer of funds from Cherry’s to Alan’s
account.

(c) Jobs, a software developer, is in the process of developing a

new application (App). Berners, his assistant, downloads a file
containing a prototype of the application from Jobs’s computer
onto a USB memory stick intending to sell the prototype to a rival
organization.

5. What, if any, DEFENCES are available to Sim, Rita, David and Ben to
criminal charges in the following THREE situations:

(a) Sim is driving along a motorway in his car. He notices a lorry is

driving dangerously close behind. Sim breaks the speed limit to
avoid a possible crash.

(b) Rita is a diabetic. One morning, on the way to work, she is raped
by John. Despite being traumatised by the rape she makes her
way to work. A little later, while sitting at her desk, she succumbs
to hyperglycaemia, having forgotten to take her insulin due to the
trauma of the rape. She becomes very confused. Moeen, a male
colleague, notices that Rita is looking unwell. He goes over to her,
puts his hand on her shoulder and asks her if she is all right. Rita,
in her confusion, thinks Moeen intends to rape her and so punches
him in the groin.

(c) David sees Ben, a work colleague, bullying Julio. He approaches

Ben and tells him ‘to pick on somebody your own size’. They agree
to ‘settle things’ in the boxing ring in the work’s gym. They fight
together one evening and each suffers cuts and bruises.

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6. EITHER

(a) Outline and discuss critically the present law of joint enterprise
liability, giving suggestions for reform.

OR

(b) Outline and discuss critically the present law of non-fatal offences
against the person, giving suggestions for reform.

END OF PAPER

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