is voluntarius dæmon, hath no privilege thereby." 4 Bl. Com. 26. But if by continual drunkenness he have become absolutely mad, then the original cause is not referred to, and he may be excused; not so however if there be only a predisposition to temporary madness, and that madness be voluntarily excited by drinking. There are many men, soldiers, who have been severely wounded, in the head especially, who well know that excess makes them mad; but if such persons wilfully deprive themselves of reason, they ought not to be excused one crime by the voluntary perpetration of another.[1]
"He who incites a madman (idiot, infant, or lunatic) to do a murder or other crime, (as to kill himself) is a principal offender, and as much punishable as if he had done it himself." 1 Hawk. P. C. p. 3 and 118. 1 H. P. C. 617.
"It seems agreed at this day, that if one, who has committed a capital offence, become non compos before conviction, he shall not be arraigned; and if after conviction, that he shall not be executed." 1 Hawk. P. C. 3; 1 H. P. C. 36" Indeed in the bloody reign of Henry the eighth, a statute was made (33 H. 8, c. 20) which enacted, that if a person, being compos mentis, should commit treason, and after fall into madness, he might be tried in his absence, and should suffer death, as if he were of perfect memory. But this savage and inhuman law was
- ↑ Lord Ferrers committed the murder of his steward Johnson after drinking porter to excess. See State Trials. John Dey of Dereham, in Norfolk, after a paroxysm of drunkenness rose in the middle of the night, and cut the throats of his father and mother, ravished the servant maid in her sleep, and afterwards murdered her! A somewhat analogous case was presented to us in the history of Nicholson, who murdered Mr. and Mrs. Bonar at Chiselhurst. These men were, however, condemned and executed.
