Acts Constituting Provocation
At common law, acts of provocation had to be actual violence towards the defendant, words could not amount to provocation. The two exceptions to this rule were a husband discovering his wife committing adultery and a father finding someone buggering his son. There were two limbs to the defence, first the defendant had to actually been provoked, and second the provocation had to be such as would have made the reasonable man act as the defendant did. The Homicide Act 1957 removed all limits on what could amount to provocation and allowed it to include provocation from someone other than the victim, and aimed at someone other than the accused. Further the defence was not defeated by the fact that the defendant induced the provocation. The section 56 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 states that the common law defence of provocation is abolished and replaced by section 54 and section 55; and that section 3 of the Homicide Act 1957 is also abolished and replaced with sections 54 and 55.
Read more about this topic: Manslaughter In English Law, History, Voluntary Manslaughter, Former Partial Defence of Provocation
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