Ratio Decidendi
Necessity is not a defence to murder. The deliberate killing of an innocent person to preserve one's own life is murder, even in the most extreme circumstances of survival.
Facts
Four crew members of the yacht Mignonette were shipwrecked in the South Atlantic. After 20 days adrift with no food or water, Dudley and Stephens killed the cabin boy, Richard Parker (who was ill and close to death), and the three survivors fed on his body until rescued four days later.
Judgment Summary
Lord Coleridge CJ held that necessity was no defence to murder. The defendants were convicted of murder but sentenced to death, which was commuted to six months' imprisonment by the Crown.
Key Quotes
"It must not be supposed that in refusing to admit temptation to be an excuse for crime it is forgotten how terrible the temptation was."
— Lord Coleridge CJ
Subsequent Treatment
Remains the leading authority that necessity cannot be a defence to murder (confirmed in Re A (Children) [2001] for conjoined twins).