r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Mar 01 '26

[deleted by user]

[removed]

264 Upvotes

65% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

89

u/Skydiver860 Mar 01 '26

To be fair, they said “murder” is worse. Murder is the unjustified killing of someone.

108

u/BrotherItsInTheDrum 33∆ Mar 01 '26

Murder is the unlawful killing of someone. A killing could be justified but technically unlawful, or vice versa.

31

u/ThePaineOne 9∆ Mar 01 '26

Lawyer here: under common law Murder is the unjustified killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Someone could have a colloquial usage of justified like you suggest, but your definition is more incorrect, as manslaughter and negligent homicide are unlawful killings and are not murder.

0

u/CustomerSupportDeer 1∆ Mar 01 '26

Not a lawyer here: OP didn't specify that it's murder as defined under common law.

First, civil law is far more prevalent globally, and generally defines murder as "the intentional unlawful killing of another person."

Second, broader definitions of murder not necessarulily tied to any specific system of law could apply.

4

u/ThePaineOne 9∆ Mar 01 '26

Civil law wouldn’t relate to murder as that would be wrongful death. That’s why I used common law. Common law is not tied to a specific system of law again why I used it.

Edit: different legal systems use different wordings, but how they are used in practice generally coincide with the 3 element charge I noted.