MISDEMEANOR-MANSLAUGHTER RULE
misdemeanor-manslaughter rule. The doctrine that a death occurring during the commission of a misdemeanor (or sometimes a nondangerous felony) is involuntary manslaughter. • Many states and the Model Penal Code have abolished this rule. Cf. FELONY-MURDER RULE. [Cases: Homicide 620–652.]
“Companion to the felony-murder rule is the so-called misdemeanor-manslaughter rule[:] … Homicide resulting from the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an unlawful act, less than a dangerous felony, is manslaughter if the unlawful act is malum in se.” Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 108 (3d ed. 1982).
