LAWS5004 Final: LAWS5004 Necessity
Document Summary
The defence of necessity operates where circumstances (natural or human threats) bear upon the accused which induce him or her to break the law to avoid even more dire consequences. The modern defence of necessity has its foundations in the notorious case of dudley and stephens, a fact which may have inhibited judicial development of this area: dudley and stephens (1884) 14 qbd 273. [facts: d and s with brooks, all able-bodied english seamen, and the deceased also an english boy, between seventeen and eighteen years old were cast away in a storm. They had not fresh water, except such rain as they from time to time caught in their oilskin caps. The boy went to sleep, and extremely weakened by famine and by drinking sea water, and unable to make any resistance, nor did he ever assent to his being killed.
