Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| Published date | 01 July 1973 |
| Date | 01 July 1973 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201837303700306 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council
JOINT
RESPONSIBIUTY
FOR
MURDER
Farquharson v. The Queen
TH IS appeal from the
Bahama
Islands
(1973,2
W.L.R.
596)
raised the question of the joint responsibility of those who
act
in concert.
The
appellant,
who
was
unarmed,
went
with
two
other
men, one of whom
had
acutlass
and
the
other
a pistol, into a
dwelling house
at
night for
the
purpose of theft.
They
were dis-
turbed
by a member of
the
household, who was shot
dead
by the
man
carrying
the
pistol.
The
appellant
did
not
with his own
hand
do
any
unlawful
harm.
All three were convicted of
murder,
contrary to s.336 of
the
Penal Code, which provides
that
"whoever
intentionally causes
the
death
of
another
person by
any
unlawful
harm
is guilty of
murder"
(subject to certain
partial
excuses
enunciated in
the
Code).
The
jury
were directed
that,
if they were
satisfied
that
the
three accused
had
agreed to effect a common
design, including
the
use of force necessary to achieve
that
design
or
to effect their escape if resisted, even if
that
force
meant
killing
or doing grevious
harm,
then they should hold all three respon-
sible for
the
consequences if one of the three used such force
with
fatal consequences.
The
appellant appealed
upon
the
ground
that
the
Penal Code did
not
contain
the
offence of
murder
by two
or more persons being concerned together
in
ajoint enterprise
and
that
the common law principle of joint responsibility for acts
done in
pursuance
of a common design was no longer law, in
that
the
principles of
the
Penal Code
had
superseded it.
The
Crown
sought to
support
the
conviction on
two
grounds:
(i)
by
the
application of
the
common law principles, by which it
is clear
that
the
appellant would be guilty because of his
part
in
executing
the
common design which resulted in
murder;
and
(ii) because liability arising
out
of joint responsibility was imposed
by
the
Penal Code. As to
the
first of these arguments,
the
Penal
Code is
not
acomplete statement of
the
criminal law, for it
provides
that
its provisions shall
not
affect (inter alia)
the
liability
of a person
under
the
common law.
The
Board held, however,
206
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