Hammersmith v Francis Smith - The Law of Insanity

Hammersmith and Francis Smith set a legal precedent that someone who commits a crime while acting under an honest but unreasonable belief can be held liable. After 1945 there was a slow progression in the law very much pioneered by a great English legal scholar and academic Glamvyn Williams. In 1957 the law was reformed with what was called the Homicide Act 1957 which introduced a plea of diminished responsibility.

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