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A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/89744 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications A ‘Zone of Legal Exemption’ for Sports Violence? Form and Substance in the Criminal Law BEN LIVINGS THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SCHOOL OF LAW UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK SUBMITTED OCTOBER 2016 Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vi DECLARATION ................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ viii TABLE OF CASES ................................................................................................. ix TABLE OF STATUTES ......................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction....................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The Scope of the Thesis .................................................................................... 12 1.2.1 A definition of ‘sports violence’ ............................................................... 12 1.2.2 The choice of sports ................................................................................. 15 1.2.3 The limits of the thesis ............................................................................. 18 1.3 The Aims and Structure of the Thesis and its Contribution to Knowledge .......... 21 Chapter 2 ‘Sport is More than Simply Play!’ – From ‘Rough and Disorganised Games’ to ‘Rational Recreation’ and Sport in the Courts .................................. 32 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 32 2.2 Sport and a ‘Civilizing Process’ .......................................................................... 33 2.3 ‘Rough and disorganised games’ ....................................................................... 36 2.3.1 Polymorphous Folk Games ...................................................................... 36 2.3.2 Prizefighting on the frontiers of the law ................................................... 38 2.4 Rational Recreation and the Response of the Courts ........................................ 40 2.4.1 Rational recreation and a diminishing space for traditional practices ....... 41 2.4.2 The police and the role of the courts ....................................................... 44 2.5 The Changing Face of Sports –Standardisation and Codification........................ 48 2.5.1 From prizefighting to the Queensberry Rules ........................................... 48 2.5.2 The Development of the Codes – from a polymorphous folk game to rugby and soccer .............................................................................................. 55 2.5.3 The criminal law legacy ............................................................................ 61 2.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 63 Chapter 3 Modern Sports Violence and the Playing Culture ............................. 66 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 66 3.2 The Rules and the Acceptance of Violence and the Risk of Injury ...................... 68 3.2.1 Violence and the rules ............................................................................. 68 3.2.2 Safety and an acceptance of the risk of injury .......................................... 74 ii 3.2.3 The level of violence in modern sports ..................................................... 76 3.3 Violent Conduct Beyond the Rules .................................................................... 79 3.3.1 Sports violence in the criminal courts ...................................................... 80 3.3.2 Beyond the rules, to the playing culture................................................... 83 3.4 The Usefulness of the Playing Culture Paradigm ............................................... 86 3.4.1 ‘Unwritten conventions’ and a more realistic portrayal ............................ 88 3.4.2 Varying practices and appropriate responses ........................................... 90 3.5 Limitations of the Playing Culture Standard ...................................................... 93 3.5.1 The playing culture and the problem of definition ................................... 93 3.5.2 The source of the playing culture ............................................................. 96 3.5.3 The playing culture and the regulatory function of the referee ................ 99 3.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 102 Chapter 4 Sports Violence, Criminal Offences and the First Part of the ‘Orthodox View’.............................................................................................................. 104 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 104 4.1.1 ‘Input wrongs’ and ‘output wrongs’ ....................................................... 105 4.2 Sports Violence and the ‘Statutory Assaults’ ................................................... 109 4.2.1 The OAPA 1861 – ‘laudable but untidy’ .................................................. 111 4.2.2 Sections 18, 20 and 47 and criticism of the ‘statutory assaults’ .............. 113 4.3 Mens Rea – Intention and Sports Violence ...................................................... 119 4.3.1 Mens rea – a cognitive concept.............................................................. 119 4.3.2 Intention and its intuitive application to sports violence ........................ 121 4.3.3 Sports violence and legal intention ........................................................ 127 4.4 Mens Rea – Recklessness and Sports Violence ................................................ 130 4.4.1 Recklessness and the subjective/objective debate ................................. 130 4.4.2 Recklessness in Barnes........................................................................... 135 4.4.3 Reasonableness - an important aspect of recklessness........................... 138 4.4.4 Assessing reasonableness – probability of harm or social utility? ........... 142 4.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 145 Chapter 5 Sports Violence – Consent as a Normative Justification ................. 147 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 147 5.2 Consent as Private Authorisation .................................................................... 150 5.3 Balancing Consent and Public Wrongs ............................................................ 153 5.4 Negotiating the Limits of Consensual Harm .................................................... 157 5.5 Qualifying Harm and Exceptional Categories ................................................... 161 5.6 Offence-Types and Non/Violation of Prohibitory Norms ................................. 165 5.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 168 iii Chapter 6 Consent as a Doctrinal Mechanism ................................................ 172 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 172 6.2 The Ontology of Consent ................................................................................ 173 6.2.1 Beyond the attitudinal/expressive dichotomy - consent and moral context ........................................................................................................... 177 6.2.2 An added complication – implied consent .............................................. 179 6.3 Generating Legal Rules ................................................................................... 181 6.3.1 Individualised consent in sexual offences and to medical treatment ...... 181 6.3.2 Sports violence, the mediating effect of the playing culture, and a different conception of consent ..................................................................... 187 6.4 Imputed Consent as a Legal Fiction ................................................................. 191 6.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 195 Chapter 7 Why the Fiction? Rationalising the Law .......................................... 198 7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 198 7.2 R v Barnes ...................................................................................................... 201 7.3 Recklessness