R. v. Dudley & Stephens
Regina v. Dudley and Stephens ([1884] 14 QBD 273 DC) is a leading British criminal case famous for its precedence in establishing the use of 'necessity' as a criminal defense, and for its use of the 'slippery slope' argument in formulating its holding.
Facts of the Case The English yacht Mignonette set sail for Sydney, Australia from Tollesbury in Essex on May 5th, 1884 with a crew of four. The crew consisted of Tom Dudley, the captain; Edwin Stephens, Edmund Brooks, and Richard Parker, the cabin boy. On July 5th the yacht sank due to bad weather off of Cape of Good Hope stranding the entire crew on a single 13-foot lifeboat. For ten days they survived off of two tins of turnips that the boy had saved and whatever they could catch. After days without food or water, Dudley proposed that Richard Parker be sacrificed to feed the others. After some convincing they agreed to kill the cabin boy, feeding on his body for the next four days until they were picked up by a German bark. The remaining crew were brought to Falmouth where they were charged with murder.
Ruling The initial trial in Exeter was in front of a sympathetic jury. Although cannibalism was not accepted practice at the time, the seafaring community was receptive to the unique perils of being cast away at sea. Even Richard Parker's family testified that the defendants were probably justified in their actions. In its verdict, the jury stated that they found all the facts of the prosecution's case to be accurate, but that they were unsure whether the circumstances would constitute legal homicide. The question was sent to London for review. At the Divisional Court of the Queen’s Bench Division, the panel of judges found that there was insufficient 'necessity' for the killing. The judges argued that allowing an exception to murder for certain perilous circumstances would set a dangerous precedent for the future, as courts could interpret the decision to acquit other forms of killing. The presiding justice, Lord Coleridge, went as far as to call Dudley and Stephens' actions inconsistent with the morals of civilized societies, pointing out the virtues of Greco-Roman literature and the Biblical story of Jesus. Dudley and Stephens were found guilty and sentenced to death, which was later commuted to six months' imprisonment by Queen Victoria. Today, the case is commonly studied and debated by law students in common law countries such as the United Kingdom and United States. Possibly by coincidence, the name "Richard Parker" was used in the book Life of Pi about a boy stranded at sea.
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