Criminal law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Criminal law - Essay Example There can be two types of manslaughter, voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary manslaughter occurs when a person kills with a malice aforethought or intention (mens rea). Involuntary manslaughter occurs when death occurs because of negligence or because of another illegal, dangerous act. To clarify, Actus Reus is the criminal act. It often goes with mens rea. There are two types of involuntary manslaughter. These are Constructive Manslaughter and Gross Negligence Manslaughter. Constructive manslaughter or Unlawful Act Manslaughter usually occurs when death results from the defendant’s unlawful act. To understand the concept of involuntary manslaughter, we could put the situation of David and Nick for consideration. David and Nick could be charged with Constructive Manslaughter. The prosecution, if the duo should be charged with Constructive Manslaughter, needs to establish the legal elements in the case. The actus reus was homicide, specifically manslaughter. The death occured b ecause of David and Nick’s unlawful act of damaging the tyres of the car Gordon drove. The mens rea for this situation would be the mere idea that they should puncture the tyres of the politician because they are unhappy with the way the politician runs the government. The mere thought that they should inflict an illegal act upon someone’s belongings, whether the intention is to kill or not, is sufficient enough to charge someone of manslaughter, because they intended to inflict harm on someone. Because the death only resulted from an act they performed indirectly on the politician, it can’t be murder. Since the killing is the result of the David and Nick’s unlawful act of slashing the tires, and they were reasonable enough (not insane) to rationalize that they needed to slash Gordon’s tyres because on the grounds that the politician was causing their problems, the act is Constructive Manslaughter. The act cannot be considered murder as they slashe d the tyres without meaning to kill the person, even if it meant the death of the driver of the car. The mens rea is quite clear and they indeed meant harm to the politician, although not necessarily his death. The death happened because of the injuries sustained from the head injuries that were incurred during the accident, which is not a direct harm but merely a consequence caused by the defendants’ actions. This phenomenon is called the Natural Consequences of the Defendant’s Act, like the R v Pagett Case in 1983 where the defendant tried to use a little girl as human shield when he was being arrested by the police. The girl died because she took the bullet. This case is similar to David and Nick’s case because Gordon died because David and Nick put him in danger because of their behavior. David and Nick could also be charged with Gross Negligence Manslaughter. This happens when the death is because of negligence or omission on the part of the defendant. Acco rding to the judge in R v Bateman (1925) 19 Cr App R 8, the negligence of the accused showed disregard for the life and safety of others as to amount to a crime. To describe the grossness of the negligence in a case, the Adomako (from R v Adomako (1994) 3 All ER 79Â  )Â  test: a) the existence of a duty of care to the deceased; b) a breach of that duty of care which; c) causes (or significantly contributes) to the death of the victim; and d) the breach should be characterised as gross negligence, and therefore a crime. Since

A critical examination of the relationship between entrepreneurial Dissertation

A critical examination of the relationship between entrepreneurial succession and knowledge development in Italian family businesses - Dissertation Example The study aims to ascertain which factors are significantly correlated with succession effectiveness from Italian business owners’ perspective; and to determine which knowledge management factors are significantly correlated with succession effectiveness from Italian business successors’ perspective. Through a convenience sample of 29 family-owned Italian businesses, the study found that all of the subscales in Pyromalis et al’s (2006) framework have been agreed upon by the owners of family-owned Italian businesses. These include their willingness to step aside in favour of their successors; the successors’ perceived willingness to take over; positive family relations and communication have received agreement from the owners; succession planning; and successor’s appropriateness and preparation. The factors which are significantly correlated with the effectiveness of the succession effort from the point of view of owners were ascertained, and these t urned out to be successor’s willingness to take over; positive family relations and communication; succession planning; and successor’s appropriateness and preparation. In addition, all of the subscales of Krueger & Day (2010) were agreed upon by the respondents and these include perception and creativity; intention; key beliefs and attitudes or self-efficacy; deeper beliefs and knowledge structures; entrepreneurial learning; and context matters. Finally, the following facets of knowledge management are significantly and positively correlated with perceived effectiveness of the succession effort:... positive family relations and communication have received agreement from the owners; succession planning; and successor’s appropriateness and preparation. The factors which are significantly correlated with the effectiveness of the succession effort from the point of view of owners were ascertained, and these turned out to be successor’s willingness to take over; positive family relations and communication; succession planning; and successor’s appropriateness and preparation. In addition, all of the subscales of Krueger & Day (2010) were agreed upon by the respondents and these include perception and creativity; intention; key beliefs and attitudes or self-efficacy; deeper beliefs and knowledge structures; entrepreneurial learning; and context matters. Finally, the following facets of knowledge management are significantly and positively correlated with perceived effectiveness of the succession effort: Key beliefs and attitudes or self-efficacy; entrepreneurial l earning; context matters; and deeper beliefs and knowledge structures. Recommendations on further improving the succession efforts at Italian family-owned businesses have been put forth. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background In this chapter, the researcher shall present basic information on the concept of succession (especially in Italian families) and how knowledge is developed within each generation to keep the business afloat through the generations. In Italy, the majority of businesses that keep the country’s economy afloat are small businesses and most of these are â€Å"family-owned.† (ISTAT, 1996). Studies on Italian families have also shown that family members tend to â€Å"diffuse† their time for their family along with other routine activities, such as running a business (Arcidiacono and Pontecorvo,