The case marked the culmination of a long history of attempts by the law, in the face of a bank of public opinion sympathetic to famished castaways, to outlaw the custom of cannibalism (cases of which were little-publicised until after the death of perpetrators) and it became a legal cause célèbre in late 19th century Britain, particularly among mariners.

The defendants were found guilty and were sentenced to the statutory death penalty, though with a recommendation of mercy. After nearly three weeks at sea, and with little hope of rescue, two of the crew, Tom Dudley and Edwin Stephens, decided that in order to save their own lives they would need to kill and eat the ship's 17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker, who by that time had fallen seriously ill after drinking seawater.

The four-man crew of the wrecked yacht Mignonette were cast adrift in a small lifeboat without provisions. The case concerned survival cannibalism following a shipwreck, and its purported justification on the basis of a custom of the sea. R v Dudley and Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273, DC is a leading English criminal case which established a precedent throughout the common law world that necessity is not a defence to a charge of murder.

Killing and eating flesh of human being under pressure of hunger.

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