Parke J empanelled a jury to decide whether the defendant was fit to plead. In directing the jury the judge referred to the following passage in Hale’s Pleas of the Crown, vol I, p 34: ‘If a man in his sound memory commits a capital offence, and before his arraignment he becomes absolutely mad, he ought not by law to be arraigned during such his phrensy, but be remitted to prison until that incapacity be removed.’
Judges:
Parke J
Citations:
Unreported, 1831
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Mentioned – Rex v Pritchard 21-Mar-1836
A person, deaf and dumb, was to be tried for a capital felony the Judge ordered a Jury to be impanneled, to try whether he was mute by the visitation of God, the jury found that he was so. The jury were then sworn to try whether he was able to . .
Cited – Brown v The Queen PC 9-Feb-2016
Court of Appeal of Jamaica – Appeal against conviction for murder – challenge as to capacity to plead.
Held: The appeal against conviction failed, but the appeal against sentence succeeded. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.559692