Manslaughter

Manslaughter is homicide committed without excuse or justification, and without malice aforethought, expressed or implied.

1 Hawk. P. C. c. 30, §§ 2, 3; Steph. Dig. Crim. Law, art. 223.

Voluntary manslaughter is an intentional homicide in sudden passion or heat of blood caused by reasonable provocation, and not with malice aforethought.

1 Hale, P. C. 466.

To constitute voluntary manslaughter, (1) the killing must be intentional; (2) it must be without malice; (3) the provocation must be so great as to reasonably excite passion in an ordinary man, and cause him to act rashly and without reflection, and so immediate as not to afford reasonable cooling time. Involuntary manslaughter is homicide committed unintentionally, but without excuse, and not under such circumstances as to raise the implication of malice.

23 Iowa, 154; 62 Mich. 29.

It may arise (1) from the doing of a criminal act not amounting to a felony, nor naturally tending to cause death or great bodily harm; (2) from the doing of a lawful act vdth gross negligence; (3) from the omission to perform a legal duty under circumstances showing gross negligence. By statutes in the various states, the degrees of manslaughter and the elements of each degree have been variously altered.