Project No. 97

Commenced: 2005
Completed: 2007

The starting point when considering the law of homicide is s 268 of the Criminal Code 1913 (WA) which provides: 'It is unlawful to kill any person unless such killing is authorized or justified or excused by law.' According to s 270 of the Code, '[a]ny person who causes the death of another, directly or indirectly, by any means whatever, is deemed to have killed that other person'. The question who can be unlawfully killed is complex and depends on statutory definitions of when human life begins and when it ends.