Crimes Act 1961

Crimes against the person - Murder, manslaughter, etc

171: Manslaughter

You could also call this:

"Killing someone without planning to, which is against the law"

Illustration for Crimes Act 1961

If you do something that kills someone, but it is not murder, it is called manslaughter. This is what the law says, except in the case of something called section 178, which you can read about in the section 178 part of the law. You can think of manslaughter as a type of killing that is not planned or intended, but still very serious.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM329319.


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170: Illegal arrest may be evidence of provocation, or

"When someone is arrested unfairly, it might help explain why they got angry and did something wrong."


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172: Punishment of murder, or

"If you murder someone, you could go to jail forever, but there are special rules about this."

Part 8Crimes against the person
Murder, manslaughter, etc

171Manslaughter

  1. Except as provided in section 178, culpable homicide not amounting to murder is manslaughter.

Compare
  • 1908 No 32 s 186