Automatism

Automatism involves the recognition of a physical/mental state whereby the body’s muscles act without the control of the mind or a lack of consciousness on the part of the defendant regarding what they are doing – e.g. whilst sleep walking – in keeping with Bratty v. Attorney General for Northern Ireland [1963] AC 386. Therefore, with this in mind, since actions involved with automatism are usually involuntary, they are not generally considered to be punishable, illustrated by R v. Burgess [1991] 2 WLR 1206.

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