What the difference between Murder and Manslaughter?
The difference is not subtle, but not accidental. Let’s say you are in your bedroom, a man breaks in, wearing a ski mask and brandishing a knife. You pull a gun and shoot him dead. Are you guilty of manslaughter, or murder? Neither, although you’ve committed a homicide (the killing of a man), almost anyone can tell you it is justifiable. Let’s say the man attacks you, you don’t have a gun, but in the struggle the knife flies out the window and you still beat him to death with your fists. Are you guilty of murder? No, only manslaughter. When he lost his weapon you no longer had reason to kill him, but you did it anyway. Let’s say that when the knife flies out the window, you invite him downstairs for a cup of tea, and he declines, but you don’t tell him about the loose rug at the top of the stairs, then he falls and dies. Did you voluntarily kill him, or was it involuntary manslaughter? One lawyer I know once quipped “Murder is what they charge me with if I know you, manslaughter if I d
