Origin Traced by commentators to twelfth-century English common law; the modern formulation dates to William Hawkins's 1716 Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown.
The felony murder rule is a doctrine of criminal law, rooted in English common law, under which a person who causes a death, even accidentally, during the commission of a dangerous or statutorily enumerated felony can be convicted of murder without proof of an intent to kill, on the reasoning that the underlying felony itself supplies the malice the murder charge requires. Commentators trace the rule to the twelfth century, and its modern common law formulation is usually credited to William Hawkins's 1716 Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown; accomplices in the underlying felony can also be charged with murder for a death that results.
Facts
Origin PeriodTraced by commentators to twelfth-century English common law; the modern formulation dates to William Hawkins's 1716 Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown. 1 Core PrincipleA death that occurs during the commission of a dangerous or enumerated felony can support a murder conviction against the felon, and often an accomplice, without independent proof of intent to kill, because the intent to commit the underlying felony supplies the malice. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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