... not a lesser assault. But the judge may take the provoking conduct into account and reduce the sentence. However in murder, the concept of provocation is a defence but only a qualified one - unlike self-defence (which entitles the accused to an acquittal), a successful defence of provocation only reduces the offence from one of murder to one of manslaughter. Provocation was a limited defence to murder, even at common law - it was the law's compassion to human infirmity. In an age where people carried weapons and quarrels more easily turned to violence, it was physical force that was the hallmark of the defence of provocation - words were not sufficient and the killer had, himself or herself, to have been assaulted. The only exceptions to this requirement were husbands finding wives in adultery or fathers discovering someone committing sodomy on a son. At common law, there had to be conduct ...

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