Soliciting to murder is a

statutory A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

offence of

incitement In criminal law, incitement is the encouragement of another person to commit a crime. Depending on the jurisdiction, some or all types of incitement may be illegal. Where illegal, it is known as an inchoate offense, where harm is intended but m ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. In common parlance, the act of soliciting to murder may be thought of as "hiring a hitman", though the word "hiring" is used loosely, and the act requires no financial transaction to qualify as such. Merely the intent to engage another in an act of murder qualifies as soliciting.

England and Wales

This offence is created by section 4 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 which reads:

Textual amendments

The words omitted at the beginning were repealed by sections 5(10)(a) and 65(5) of, and Schedule 13 to, the

Criminal Law Act 1977 The Criminal Law Act 1977 (c.45) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Most of it only applies to England and Wales. It creates the offence of conspiracy in English law. It also created offences concerned with criminal trespass in p ...

. The words omitted elsewhere were repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1892. The words "imprisonment for life" were substituted for the words from "be kept" to "years", on 8 September 1977, by section 5(10)(b) of the

Case law

The following cases are relevant: *''R v Fox'' (1870) 19 WR 109 (Ir) *''R v Banks'' (1873) 12 Cox 393 *''R v Ransford'' (1874) 13 Cox 9, (1874) 3 LT 488, CCR *''R v Most'' (1881) 7 QBD 244, (1881) 14 Cox 583, (1881) 45 JP 696 *''R v Bourtzeff'' (1898) 127 CCC Sess Pap 284 *''R v McCarthy''

903 __NOTOC__ Year 903 ( CMIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * King Berengar I of Italy proceeds to issue concessions and privileges to the Lo ...

2 IR 146 *''R v Krause'', 66 JP 121, 18 TLR 238 *''R v Antonelli and Barberi'' (1905) 70 JP 4 *''R v Shephard''

919 __NOTOC__ Year 919 ( CMXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By Place Byzantine Empire * March 25 – Romanos Lekapenos, admiral (''droungarios'') of the ...

2 KB 125, 14 Cr App R 26, CCA

Visiting forces

Soliciting to murder is an

offence against the person In criminal law, the term offence against the person or crime against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person. They are usually analysed by division into the fol ...

for the purposes of section 3 of the

Visiting Forces Act 1952 The Visiting Forces Act 1952 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.Section 3provides immunity against prosecution for certain offences in the courts of United Kingdom by members of visiting forces and, by virtue of the 1964 Act, inte ...

Mode of trial

Soliciting to murder is an

indictable-only offence In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing ...

Sentence

Soliciting to murder is punishable with

imprisonment for life Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

or for any shorter term. See th
Crown Prosecution Service sentencing manual
The following cases are relevant: *''R v Raw'' (1983) 5 Cr App R (S) 229 *''Houseley and Kibble''

994 Year 994 ( CMXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * September 15 – Battle of the Orontes: Fatimid forces, under Turkish gener ...

15 Cr App R (S) 155 *''R v Adamthwaite''

15 Cr App R (S) 241 *
Attorney-General's Reference No 43 of 1996 (Costaine)
'

997 Year 997 (Roman numerals, CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first ...

1 Cr App R (S) 378 *''R v Robinson''

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...

2 Cr App R (S) 13 *''R v Montague'' 0041 Cr App R (S) 137 *''R v Rai'' 0062 Cr App R (S) 13 *''R v Saleem'', Javad and Muhid

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh *"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6 * '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film * '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...

2 Cr App R (S) 12
''R v Hills'
007EWCA Crim 3152,

2 Cr App R (S) 29

Orders on conviction

As to violent offender orders, see section 98(3) of the

Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which makes significant changes in many areas of the criminal justice system in England and Wales and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland and Nor ...

History

Initially, a person guilty of an offence under section 4 was liable on conviction to penal servitude for a term not more than ten and not less than three years or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour. From 1948 to 8 September 1977, the maximum sentence was imprisonment for a term of ten years.

Northern Ireland

This offence is created by section 4 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. The penalty was increased by article 5(1) of the

Criminal Law (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and welfare, moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most crimin ...

(S.I. 1977/1249 (N.I. 16)).

Republic of Ireland

This offence is created by section 4 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.Th
Irish Statute Book
says that has been neither repealed nor otherwise amended.

References

{{English criminal law navbox Crimes