House of Lords
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836202600105 |
| Published date | 01 January 1962 |
| Date | 01 January 1962 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
House of Lords
THE LIMITS OF THE DEFENCE OF DRUNKENNESS
Attorney-Generalfor Northern Ireland o. Gallagher
THE accused, who did not give evidence himself, had a
grievance against his wife. She had obtained amain-
tenance order against him and had been instrumental in getting
him detained in a mental hospital. He had made up his mind
to kill her. He bought a knife for the purpose and a bottle of
whisky-either
to give himself Dutch courage to do the deed
or to drown his conscience after it. He did in fact carry out his
intention. He killed his wife with the knife and drank much
of the whisky before or after he killed her.
Two
defences
were raised on his behalf,
(I)
insanity, and (2) drunkenness.
The
trial judge in Northern Ireland directed the
jury
that
the
time when they had to consider whether he was insane or not
(within the M'Naghten Rules) was before he started on
the
bottle of whisky.
There
was medical evidence that the
accused was a psychopath
but
the statutory defence of dimin-
ished responsibility is not available in Northern Ireland.
The
jury
convicted him of murder.
The
Court of Criminal Appeal in Northern Ireland held
that the verdict of murder could not stand, on the ground that
the
trial judge had misdirected the
jury
in that he directed
themto apply the
M'
Naghten test not to the time of committing
the act
but
to the moment before the accused took alcohol.
The
Court further held that in the circumstances it could not
substitute either averdict of guilty
but
insane or a verdict of
manslaughter, and, accordingly, directed averdict of acquittal
to be entered.
The
Crown applied under the Administration
of the Justice Act, 1960, for a certificate that apoint of law of
general public importance was involved and for leave to
appeal to the House of Lords.
The
Court certified that
"the
following point of law of general public importance was
involved in our
decision:-
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