... to be that a defence of necessity can extend to lethal acts undertaken in order to negate a threat to life even where that threat is an innocent one. Hence, on the best view of the law after Re A, the story told of the petrified passenger during the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise, who had to be pushed off a ladder (and who apparently then drowned) in order that others may survive, may now disclose an appropriate case for the necessity defence. [See S&S p. 625.] The case establishes few if any general propositions of law. Even though the ruling of the Court was unanimous, each of the three judgments adopts different and inconsistent reasoning. There is, at least, welcome agreement that Johnson J erred at first instance in holding that the surgical intervention would be lawful because it would be an omission (a withdrawal of ...

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