... can be defined as: "...The unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in being under the Queen's Peace with malice aforethought..." In a more modern explanation murder is defined as 'The intention to kill OR cause grievous bodily harm'. Courts have had to define the meaning of intention themselves, as there is no statute defining it. Many murder cases have, in the past, changed the accepted idea of what intention is and have created new case law for the judges to follow. If an area of Mens Rea were unprecedented a judge would rule on it the best and most justifiable way he thought possible and then, if it was a correct ruling, it may have been used as judicial precedent and therefore the judges will use this to pass judgement on cases of a similar nature. This is what the judges have been doing and it has, so far, been working, but it is ...

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