DRINK AND CRIME.
QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY. LONDON, Dec. 16. For the first time in legal history, the House of Lords has been, called upon to decide what constitutes murder. The case was one in which the Crown appealed from a decision of a Court of Criminal Appeal, which quashed the death sentence in tile Cheshire murder trial, and substituted a verdict of manslaughter, for which a sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment was imposed upon Arthur Beard, a night watchman, for violating and strangling a girl of 13 years. The facts were admitted, the points at issue being whether drunkenness made the accused incapable of knowing what he was doing, and whether drink was an excuse for crime
The hearing was adjourned, after some important pronouncements. The Chief Justice said; A man cannot be convicted of a crime which lie did not intend to commit. Lord Atkinson said: Should a man lie treated more favourably if lie makes himself, mad instead of Providence making him mad. The Attorney-General claimed that the law stood as hitherto, and drink was no excuse.
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Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1920, Page 1
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179DRINK AND CRIME. Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1920, Page 1
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