Quarter Sessions
| Published date | 01 January 1940 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834000400102 |
| Date | 01 January 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Quarter Sessions |
Quarter
Sessions
EXPOSING THE
DEAD
BODY OF A CHILD IN A PUBLIC HIGHWAY
R. o, Simpkins
INR. v. Clark (1883, 15 Cox,
171)
the prisoner was indicted
for unlawfully exposing the dead body of her infant child
near a public highway. A labourer on going from his work
had found the naked dead body of a child on the pavement
near his back door.
The
body was mutilated.
The
arms had
been severed and the face and upper part of the body had been
flayed.
In
astatement to the police the prisoner admitted
that the child had been born dead the previous day and that
she had left it on the pavement. She denied having mutilated
the body.
Denman J
.•
in summing up, said that he was not at all
sure that the case was free from doubt in point of law. He
asked the
jury
to answer the following questions. Was the
body placed naked in the place in which it was found by the
prisoner? Was the body left by the prisoner in the place
where it was found mutilated or unmutilated? Was the place
one where many people were certain to pass and repass?
Was the act of the prisoner calculated to shock and disgust
passers-by and outrage public decency?
The
jury
found that the body was placed naked
but
not
mutilated in the place where it was
found;
that the place
was one where many people were certain to pass and repass,
and that the exposure was calculated to shock and disgust the
passers-by and outrage public decency.
Denman
J.
thereupon held that the facts proved con-
stituted an offence at Common Law. A verdict of guilty
was recorded and Clark was sentenced to six months' imprison-
ment,
a6
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