The defendant threw some stones down a mine shaft. This caused scaffolding to collapse and resulted in death of some miners.
Held:
The tort of trespass was sufficient to constitute an unlawful act for the purposes of constructive manslaughter.
NB. This position of the law was changed in R v Franklin 1883 where it was held that the act must be against criminal law as oppose to civil law to amount to an unlawful act for the purposes of manslaughter.
R v Fenton
