Chance medley

Chance medley (from the Anglo-French chance-medlee, a mixed chance), also 'chaunce medley' or 'chaude melle',[1] is a term from English law used to describe a homicide arising from a sudden quarrel or fight. In other words, the term describes "the casual killing of a man, not altogether without the killer's fault, though without an evil intent; homicide by misadventure". The term distinguishes a killing that lacks malice aforethought necessary for murder, on the one hand, and pure accident on the other.

An early version of voluntary manslaughter, "chance medley" was a common defense in the 16th and 17th centuries but had fallen out of use by the 18th century, gradually replaced by the doctrine of provocation.[2]

References

Kesselring, K.(2016-05-12). ‘Murder’s Crimson Badge’: Homicide in the Age of Shakespeare. In The Oxford Handbook of the Age of Shakespeare. : Oxford University Press.
Laurie J. Taylor, Provoked Reason in Men and Women: Heat-of-Passion Manslaughter and Imperfect Self-Defense, 33 UCLA L. Rev. 1679 (1986)

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chance-medley". Encyclopædia Britannica. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 835.

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[1] Kesselring, K.(2016-05-12). ‘Murder’s Crimson Badge’: Homicide in the Age of Shakespeare. In The Oxford Handbook of the Age of Shakespeare. : Oxford University Press.

[2] Laurie J. Taylor, Provoked Reason in Men and Women: Heat-of-Passion Manslaughter and Imperfect Self-Defense, 33 UCLA L. Rev. 1679 (1986)