DRINK AND CRIME.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1710, 29 December 1919, Page 6

DRINK AND CRIME.

QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY 'TEST IN HOUSE OF LORDS.

LONDON, Dec. 16. For the first lime in legal history, lln louso of Lords lias been called upon t< lecido-..what constitutes*niiirder._ . The case was one; in which"the Uiown lip.

pealed* from a decision of. a'Court of Criminal Appeal,,; which quashed the'• death solitencn iiijilie .Cheshire''nijuy.lor■trul.yand sub. sii'tutpd Va'*vei > dict''of >mwstfmgbter, fofor winch .'a [sentence of SO years' imprisoninent

was imposed upon Arthur Heard, a -night watchman, for violating and strangling a girl of 13 years. Tho facts were, admitted, tlio points at issue being whether drunkenness made the accused incapable of knowing what he was doing, and whether drink was an excuse

lor crime. The hearing was adjourned, after some important pronouncements. Tlib Chief Justice said: A man cannot be convicted of a crime which' ho did not intend to roinmit ■ • ." : Lord Atkinson said: Shoujd a man ,be treated more favourably if lie makes himself mad instead of Providence making him. mad.

The Attorney-General claimed (that the law stood tia hitherto, and drink was no excuse.