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This is an extract from Lawbook Company's Nutshell: Criminal Law   by Robert Wilson (Sydney: LBC, 1999, 4th ed). LBC Nutshells are the essential revision tool: they provide a concise outline of the principles for each of the major subject areas within undergraduate law. Written in clear, straightforward language, the authors clearly explain the principles, and highlight key cases and legislative provisions for each subject. Manslaughter, like murder, concerns the killing of one human being by another. The killing, however, must be unlawful. It will be unlawful in the following circumstances: (a) where the killing satisfies the requirements of murder but is attended by certain mitigating circumstances (such as provocation, and diminished responsibility). In such situations the crime is reduced to manslaughter and is usually referred to as voluntary manslaughter. These mitigating factors are known as qualified defences. (b) where the killing does not satisfy the requirements of murder but is attended by certain circumstances, such as intention to cause limited harm, criminal negligence, the intentional doing of an unlawful and dangerous act or the intentional omission to perform a personal duty to avoid injury. It is these circumstances which render the killing unlawful and so to become what is known as involuntary manslaughter. This is the general situation. It is modified by statute in some jurisdictions and these modifications are considered in the following discussion. Note that the actus reus of manslaughter involves an act causing death in a similar manner to that relating to murder. However, the further additional circumstances of each head of manslaughter will necessarily vary. The year and a day rule applies at common law, but is now only applicable to a limited extent in NSW. Robert Wilson BA LLM Barrister Wentworth Chambers 1999