Wound

Wound in United Kingdom

Wound in Legal Medicine

In general medical terms, a ‘wound’ is considered to be damage to bodily tissues, and a layman would probably think of an ‘injury’ as being a wound that has been caused by something other than an instrument.

However, the situation becomes unclear in medico-legal circumstances, as there is no statute definition for a ‘wound’ or an ‘injury’. Some authors therefore propose that the term ‘wound’ should be applied where there is an injury arising from an assault (Mason 2001 pp.106-7).

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

The Offences against the Persons Act 1861 sets out the law relating to wounding in England and Wales, and a considerable body of case law has been built up to assist in the definition of wounding, injuries and assaults.

The principle offences are:

  • Wounding or causing grevious bodily harm with intent (S. 18)
  • Maliciously wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm with or without the use of any weapon or instrument (S. 20)
  • Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (S. 47)

R v Wilson (1983) indicates that injury may be ‘inflicted’ even in the event that there is no ‘assault’, and injury can be ‘caused’ without the use of force, provided it is ‘intended’ and intended to be ‘grievous’.

‘Assault’ and ‘battery’ were previously common law offences, now incorporated in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 S. 39;

  • Assault can include causing someone to ‘anticipate’ immediate violence (R v Ireland; R v Burstow (1997))
  • Battery involves some form of ‘infliction of personal violence’, but may be as little as ‘unwanted touching’ (Collins v Wilcock (1984))

When the legal definition of a ‘wound’ is considered, one can see from R v M’Loughlin (1838) that there must be a break in the whole skin (or a contiguous mucous membrane).

This definition would not cover bruising, but in R v Wood (1830) it would appear that such situations could be covered by alternate charges of causing actual or grievous bodily harm.

Offensive Weapons Act 1996

The Offensive Weapons Act (OWA) 1996 draws together statute law relating to the possession and carrying of knives and similar weapons in public, and restricts the sale of knives and similar implements to minors (i.e. those under 16 years of age).

The Prevention of Crime Act 1953 prohibited the carrying of offensive weapons ‘without lawful authority or reasonable excuse’ (Section 1), whilst the Criminal Justice Act 1988 made it an offence to have an article with a blade or point in a public place (S. 139 (1)).

A defence to a charge of possessing a blade or point in a public place would be to prove that the weapon was;

  • For use at work
  • For educational purposes
  • For religious reasons, or
  • Part of any national costume (S. 139 A (4) as inserted by S. 4 OWA 1996).

Penalties for these offences were also increased by the OWA, ranging from 6 months (with or without a fine) on summary conviction, or 4 years (with or without a fine) on indictment.

Source: forensicmed.co.uk

Firearms

The Firearms Act 1968 created a number of offences , including the possession of a firearm/ dangerous air weapon without a certificate, possession of a shotgun without a certificate and dealing in firearms without registration.

Read more here: law relating to firearms in the UK.

Resources

See Also

  • Court Service
  • Crown Prosecution Service
  • Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)
  • Criminal law
  • Grevious bodily harm
  • Malice
  • Assault
  • Criminal intent (mens rea)
  • Battery (crime)
  • Battery (tort)

References

  • Collins v Wilcock (1984) 3 ALL ER 374
  • Criminal Justice Act 1988
  • Offences against the Person Act 1861
  • R v Ireland; R v Burstow (1997) 4 ALL ER 225, HL
  • R v M’Loughlin (1838) 8 C&P 635
  • R v Wilson (1983) 3 ALL ER 448
  • R v Wood (1830) 1 Mood CC 278
  • Prevention of Crime Act 1953

Further Reading

  • Mason J.K. (2001), ‘Forensic Medicine for Lawyers’, 4th Ed Butterworths
  • Townsend M., Barnett A. (2003), ‘Children of five who carry knives in class’, The Observer, 23rd November 2003 p.8

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