PHI 3395 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Fetus, Slippery Slope, Prenatal Vitamins
19 Nov 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Lecture 18 (november 17th: v. laballee, [1990] 1. A special version of killing in self-defence. Expert testimony is necessary to understand psychological state of an abused woman. Decision: not found guilty of murder, self-defence specially understood. Reasoning: expert testimony by psychologist, she was terrorized, felt-trapped, vulnerable, unable to escape, a syndrome in such situations. This refutes: facts are plain, reply on common knowledge, human nature, reasonable man view. Court decision, per justice bertha wilson: common myths, misunderstandings, p. 296: either she was not as badly beaten as she claims or she would have left the man long ago. The definition of what is reasonable must be adapted to circumstances which are, by and large, foreign to the world inhabited by the hypothetical reasonable man : p. 300: requiring he to wait until uplifted knife further jeopardizing her. Implication: court allows expert testimony to bring out subjective viewpoint. Because that provide correct interpretation, i. e. , proper understanding.
