Hammersmith v Francis Smith - The Law of Insanity

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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.

In the winter of 1803, residents outside of London reported strange encounters with a ghost. Some said it looked like Napoleon Bonaparte, or a horse without a head. Others said the ghost breathed fire and smoke. By Christmas, there was a “full-scale phantom panic.” Shortly after the New Year, one man decided he’d stop the ghost once and for all.

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