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The Duty Of Easy Rescue

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The duty of easy rescue is perhaps one of the most heavily debated and most controversial topics in criminal law. The origin of this duty is Biblical and it aims to punish the so-called ‘bad Samaritan’ who fails to render assistance to a person in peril . Unlike the Anglo-American jurisdictions , most European states recognise the duty of easy rescue, albeit to different extents . Scots law per se does not impose a duty of easy rescue on ordinary citizens and failure to act constitutes a criminal offence only in exceptional circumstances; these include ex gratia close proximity relationships . In this essay, the author will purport to elucidate whether Scots law shall impose a duty of easy rescue, and if so, to what extent shall such duty be recognised in Scotland.

2. Scots law and failure to act? As aforementioned, Scots law does not impose criminal liability for failure to act, except in certain limited circumstances. These include both common law rules and statutory enactments. There are four instances at common law which give rise to criminal liability for failure to act, i.e., duties arising from close proximity relationships such as parent and child, voluntary assumption of responsibility, creation of dangerous situations or contractual duties . In Bone v HMA , a pregnant mother was found to be under a duty to save her child from the attacks of her violent partner . Per contra, in R v Instan and R v Stone and Dobinson the court held that when voluntarily assuming

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