Homicide by an act of violence done in the course or in the furtherance of a felony involving violence is murder.
Insanity, whether produced by drunkenness or otherwise, is a defence to the crime charged.
Evidence of drunkenness which renders the accused incapable of forming the specific intent essential to constitute the crime should be taken into consideration with the other facts proved in order to determine whether or not he had this intent.
Evidence of drunkenness falling short of a proved incapacity in the accused to form the intent necessary to constitute the crime, and merely establishing that his mind was affected by drink so that he more readily gave way to some violent passion, does not rebut the presumption that a man intends the natural consequences of his acts.
Judges:
Lord Chancellor (Birkenhead), the Lord Chief Justice (Reading), Lords Haldane, Dunedin, Atkinson, Sumner, Buckmaster, and Phillimore
Citations:
[1920] UKHL 743
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Crime
Updated: 18 June 2022; Ref: scu.631514