Provocation : a ground for diminution of responsibility in criminal law

Abstract

The word 'Provocation' is ordinarily understood by the man in the street, to mean anything which may incite or urge a person to some act or to do something; anything which may stimulate to action or incite to anger. However, under the law, provocation providing a ground for the diminution of the punishment otherwise provided for the offence, has a much more restricted meaning. The law will not allow any provocation as an 'excuse'. In fact the Maltese Criminal Code lays down that: "Wilful homicide shall be excusable: a) Where it is provoked by a grievous bodily harm or by any crime what~ soever against the person, punishable with more than one year's hard labour or imprisonment; b) Where it is committed in repelling, during the daytime, the scaling or breaking of enclosures, walls, or the entrance of any house, or inhabited apartment, or the appurtenances thereof, having a direct or indirect communication with such houso or apartment; c) Where it is committed by any person acting under the first transport, of a sudden passion or mental excitement, in consequence of which he is, in the act of committing the crime, incapable of reflecting; The offender shall be deemed to be incapable of reflecting, whenever, in cases of provocation, the homicide be in fact attributable to heat of blood and not to a deliberate intention to kill or cause a serious injury to the person, and the cause be such as would, in persons of ordinary temperament, commonly produce the effect of rendering them incapable of reflecting on the consequences on the crime; d) Where it is committed by e..ny person who, acting upon an order or permission of the law or of a lawful authority, or because of actual necessity either in lawful self-defence or in the lawful defence of another person, shall have exceeded the limits imposed by law, by the authority or by necessity; provided moreover that any such excess shall not be liable to punishment if it is due to theperson being taken una.wares, or to fear or fright." - Section 241