OAP ACT s.16; threat-to-Kill (1861)

[student09]

Can someone be charge or convicted of threats-to-kill via email i.e.?

[jno]

yes, why not? A threat is a threat.

[fredpuli47]

Yes, they can. And they could if they planted plants in the garden which, when they flowered, spelled out, for him to see, ' I'll kill you...[I know of no case on those facts, but a threat is a threat ]. The only real questions, in practice, are whether the accused had the necessary intent and no lawul excuse

If you are a student lawyer, student09, you're well on the way. The question does suggest an ingenious turn of mind but in court you'd be met with the judge's' traditional enquiry, made in courts all over the land since Coke was a boy : 'Is that your BEST point Mr/Mrs/Miss S ?' [ A coded hint, meaning ' I think it's rubbish, stop it and argue another]

Don't stop being enquiring and thinking of all possible interpretations.With experience you'll weed out the duff arguments.You'd be surprised how often that which Parliament, their draftsmen of the statutes, people who write legal documents and,experienced practising lawyers, take for granted is wrong.Nothing need be 'too obvious'.One person on this site once had to help the Court of Appeal decide what the meaning of the word 'dishonesty' was in law. You'd think that that had been clear for centuries, but, no, they'd decided that it could bear several interpretations and definitions and they wanted to make a final ruling for judges directing juries.

[Coke, pronounced 'cook' , was born in1552. He wrote the first great textbook of English law ]