The need for a new classification of the crime .of
murder, which we urged a week or two ago, in writing on the scandal at Derby concerning the verdict on Mainwariug for his murder of a policeman, has been illustrated with great force by Lord Justice Thesiger, in addressing the grand jury at Warwick. No doubt every jury ought to be allowed to de- termine whether the crime committed has been deliberate and. intentional murder, in which case it ought to be punished by death, or only violence resulting in death where the intention was not murderous, or where, as in infanticide, there is a strong presumption of a physically disordered brain. If the Bill establishing a new Criminal Code should be reintroduced and passed next year, this classification should be introduced in it; —was indeed partially introduced in it, but not, as many law reformers think, with sufficient clearness and simplicity.
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