Ratio Decidendi
Necessity is not a defence to murder. No matter how extreme the circumstances, one person cannot lawfully take the life of another innocent person to preserve their own life.
Fapte
Dudley and Stephens were shipwrecked sailors adrift on a lifeboat with a cabin boy, Richard Parker, who was ill from drinking seawater. After 20 days without food, they killed and ate the boy. They were rescued four days later.
Rezumatul hotărârii
Lord Coleridge CJ held that necessity could not justify murder. The men were convicted of murder but their death sentences were commuted to six months' imprisonment by the Crown. The case established that necessity is no defence to murder in English law.
Citate cheie
"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... But we are often compelled to set up standards we cannot reach ourselves."
— Lord Coleridge CJ
Tratament ulterior
Confirmed in R v Howe [1987] — necessity and duress are no defence to murder.