R v M'Naghten (1843) 8 E.R. 718
Citation: R v M'Naghten (1843) 8 E.R. 718
Rule of thumb: If you were suffering from mental health problems or going through a dark period can you plead insanity to a criminal offence? No, these are points only mitigation – in order to be considered legally insane a person has to be an advanced schizophrenic.
Judgment:
In this case McNaghten was a paranoid schizophrenic who thought that they were being harassed and persecuted by the Government. McNaghten killed the secretary of the Prime Minister. McNaghten then tried to argue insanity to reduce the charge to culpable homicide. This case set the test for what is an insanity defence, and it had to be a total lack of reason and psychosis, rather than just reduced capacity. The case is quite confusing because the Jury accepted the insanity defence even although they had been instructed by the Court to find McNaghten guilty of murder.
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