Duty (criminal law)

Duty (criminal law), is an obligation to act under which failure to act (omission), results in criminal liability. Such a duty may arise by a person's status in relation to another, by statute, by contract, by voluntarily acting so as to isolate someone from help by others, and by creating a danger.[1]

"There are at least four situations in which the failure to act may constitute breach of a legal duty. One can be held criminally liable: first, where a statute imposes a duty to care for another; second, where one stands in a certain status relationship to another; third, where one has assumed a contractual duty to care for another; and fourth, where one has voluntarily assumed the care of another and so secluded the helpless person as to prevent others from rendering aid.[2]

"When a person puts another in a position of danger, he creates for himself a duty to safeguard or rescue the person from that danger... Thus, when a person places another in danger, fails to safeguard or rescue him and he dies, such omission is sufficient to support criminal liability."[3]

References
  1. Criminal Law Cases and Materials, 7th ed 2012, John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder
  2. Jones v. United States (1962), United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 308 F.2d 307 (1962)
  3. United States v. Hatatley, 130 F.3d 1399, 1406 (10th Cir. 1997)
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