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Culpable homicide is a term in the law of Scotland which covers a number of different types of criminal homicide, roughly equivalent to manslaughter in English law and manslaughter in other legal criminal jurisdictions.
They are all part of this one category in that they are cases where death is caused by improper conduct and where the guilt is less than murder. Culpable homicide is often broken down into "voluntary culpable homicide" and "involuntary culpable homicide".
Voluntary culpable homicide
Voluntary culpable homicide is homicide where the mens rea for murder is present but mitigating circumstances reduce the crime to culpable homicide.
Involuntary culpable homicide
Involuntary culpable homicide is homicide where the mens rea for murder is not present but either the independent mens rea for culpable homicide is present, or the circumstances in which death was caused make it culpable homicide. Involuntary culpable homicide may arise in the context of an unlawful act or a lawful act. The mens rea requirement is different in each case.
References
"Culpable homicide"