Specifically in the criminal law, malice aforethought (or malice prepense) is the element of mens rea (Latin for "guilty mind") which must accompany the actus reus of death, in order to secure a conviction for murder under the common law.

Malice aforethought is a precisely defined legal term that does not correspond to the lay definitions of either of its constituent words. It means one of any of the following states of mind concurrent with an act or omission that resulted in death of a person. One textbook defines it as "a term of art if not a term of deception. The author further states that "murder does not require either spite or premeditation. Mercy killing can be murder, so can a killing where the intent is conceived on the instant." In English law the mens rea requirement is an intention to cause death or to cause serious injury. Intention in this context is found either when the perpetrator acts with the purpose of causing death or serious injury, or, following Reg. v. Woollin [1999] 1 AC 82, where death or serious injury is a 'virtually certain' result of the perpetrator's act and the perpetrator realises that death or serious injury is a virtually certain result.

To varying extents in the United States, the requisite intention can also be found where the perpetrator acts with a "depraved heart" showing lack of care for human life, or with intent to commit any felony whatsoever (termed felony murder.) In England, such mens rea would only found a verdict of reckless or constructive manslaughter.

Note that through the principle of transferred intent, it does not matter that the accused aimed to kill X but, by accident, killed Y.

In most common law jurisdictions, the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code, and in the various US state statutes which have codified homicide definitions, the term has been abandoned although the meaning remains the mens rea requirement for murder.

See also

• Culpability
• Settled insanity

References

"The outcome is at once logical and ironic. This tale is one of four that Sinclair Lewis thought indispensable to an understanding of the genre.

The novel was adapted into a four-part television mini-series by the BBC in 1979, and this version was later featured on the American PBS series, Mystery!, introduced by Vincent Price. Another version was produced by Granada Television and broadcast on ITV in 2005. It, too, has been shown on Mystery!.

References