Transferred intent is a legal doctrine that can apply when someone intends to harm one person or property but their conduct harms a different person or item instead. It helps explain when the original intent may satisfy the intent element of an offense despite the unintended target.
Transferred intent (also called transferred mens rea or, in English law, transferred malice) generally applies when a person intends a legally relevant harm to one target, but that intended conduct instead causes harm to another target. The law may treat the intent directed at the first target as applying to the harm caused to the second.
All flashcards
Transferred intent
A doctrine under which intent directed at one target may apply when conduct causes legally relevant harm to another.
Transferred malice
The term used in English law for the doctrine of transferred intent.
“The intent follows the bullet”
A shorthand for when intent to kill one person may apply after a shot kills another.
Transferred intent and criminal liability
The doctrine does not remove the need to prove the offense’s elements or legally attribute the harm.
Transferred intent in R v Gnango
The UK Supreme Court controversially held that D2 could be guilty of V’s murder under joint enterprise and transferred malice.
Quiz questions
When may transferred intent apply?Answer: When intent aimed at one target may apply to legally relevant harm caused to another.
According to State v. Sowell, when may a purposeful killing through a scheme aimed at someone else support aggravated murder?Answer: When the scheme causes the death of a person other than its intended victim.
What approach did the proposed Model Penal Code describe for establishing an offense element?Answer: The offender caused the intended harm to another target, or the same kind of harm in a way not too remote or accidental.
In Attorney General’s Reference No 3 of 1994, why did the House of Lords reject using transferred malice to convict the accused of murder?Answer: The proposed reasoning involved multiple transfers and using intent to cause grievous bodily harm as the mental element for murder.
In R v Gnango, what did the UK Supreme Court controversially hold about D2 after D1 killed V during their fight?Answer: D2 could be guilty of V’s murder under joint enterprise and transferred malice.
Based on the Wikipedia article Transferred intent, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.