The Catholic Lawyer Volume 23 Number 2 Volume 23, Spring 1978, Number 2 Article 8 The Felony-Murder Rule: In Search of A Viable Doctrine Jeanne Hall Seibold Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl Part of the Criminal Law Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Catholic Lawyer by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE FELONY-MURDER RULE: IN SEARCH OF A VIABLE DOCTRINE* INTRODUCTION When a homicide has occurred during the perpetration of a felony, the felony-murder doctrine recognizes the intent to commit the underlying felony as a substitute for the mens rea normally required to support a murder conviction.' As a result of widespread recognition of the harshness * This article is a student work prepared by Jeanne Hall Seibold, a member of the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. Under the felony-murder doctrine, the mens rea is established by proof of intent to commit the underlying felony, on a theory of constructive intent. When first applied in England, "constructive malice" was applied to all killing resulting from the commission of any unlaw- ful act. E. COKE, THIRD INSTITUTE 56 (6th ed. 1680). Foster dictated that the unlawful act must be a felony. M. FOSTER, CROWN LAW 258 (2d ed. 1791). See 4 W. BLACKSTONE, COMMENTARIES 192-93 [hereinafter cited as BLACKSTONE], in which the author restated the rule: [W]hen an involuntary killing happens in consequence of an unlawful act, it will be either murder or manslaughter .