Not all killing is murder.

[Caius Marcius]

No: HPFGUIDX 143668

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Bruce Alan Wilson" 
<bawilson at c...> wrote:
>
> Ophelia writes:

> IIRC, the fracturing of the soul is MURDER, not killing.  Not 
> every killing is murder.  My legal dictionary defines murder 
> as 'the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of a human 
> being.' Killing in self-defense or defense of a third party is 
> not murder.  Killing in a fair fight is not murder.  Killing 
> in a sudden and uncontrollable fit of rage is not murder. 
> Killing by accident is not murder.  That is why the law 
> recognizes other terms for killing than murder---manslaughter 
> (voluntary or involuntary), homicide (justifiable, negligent, 
> depraved indifference)---and different degrees of murder--
> capital murder, first degree murder, second degree murder.
> 
I've made mention of this before, but it's worth repeating - the 
Biblical commandment, most familiar in its KJV mistranslation as "Thou 
shalt not kill" should be rendered, "You shall not murder." Elsewhere 
in the Torah (i.e. the first five Biblical books), killing is allowed, 
even commanded, on certain  occasions: those who are convicted of a 
capital crime are to be stoned to death,  enemies are to be slain on 
the battlefield, sacrificial animals are to be offered up during all 
religious ceremonies.

The text of HBP is a little ambiguous: when Slughorn first describes 
how a Horcrux is made (in Chap. 23)

"How do you split your soul?"

"Well," said Slughorn uncomfortably, "you must understand that the soul 
is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act of 
violation, it is against nature."

"But how do you do it?"

"By an act of evil — the supreme act of evil. By commiting murder. 
Killing rips the soul apart—"

So Slughorn *first* says murder, then goes on to say *killing* - I take 
this to mean specifically only those acts of "killing" which fall under 
the definition of "murder," but others may argue differently. 

    - CMC