| Woolmington v. DPP | |
| House of Lords | |
| Date decided: | 23 May 1935 |
| Full case name: | Woolmington and the Director for Public Prosecutions |
| Citations: | [1935] AC 462 |
| Judges sitting: | Viscount Sankey LC, Lord Hewart LCJ, Lord Atkin, Lord Tomlin and Lord Wright |
| Cases cited: | None |
| Legislation cited: | Criminal Appeal Act 1907 s. 1
Criminal Appeal Act 1907 s. 4 Criminal Evidence Act 1898 |
| Case history | |
| Prior actions: | None |
| Subsequent actions: | None |
| Keywords | |
| Burden of proof, Intention, Jury directions, Murder | |
Woolmington v. DPP [1935] AC 462 is a famous House of Lords case in English law, where the presumption of innocence was first articulated in the commonwealth. Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past Court cases either in special series of books called reporters The House of Lords is the second house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords" English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of Common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countriesand the The presumption of innocence being innocent until proven guilty is a legal Right that the Accused in Criminal trials has The English noun commonwealth dates from the fifteenth century.
History
Reginald Woolmington was a 21 year old farm labourer from Castleton. On November 22, 1934, three months after his marriage to 17 year old Violet Kathleen Woolmington, his wife left him and went to live with her mother. Events 498 - Kofi Aseidu- After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. On December 10 Reginald stole a double-barrel shotgun and cartridges from his employer, sawed off the barrel, throwing it in a brook, and then bicycled over to his mother-in-law's house where he shot and killed Violet. Events 1041 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V He was arrested on January 23 the following year and charged with the willful murder of his wife. Events 393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor
Woolmington claimed he did not intend to kill her. He wanted to win her back so he planned to scare her by threatening to kill himself if she did not come back. When questioning her about returning, he attempted to show her the gun that he was to use to kill himself. By accident, the gun went off shooting Violet in the heart.
The Trial judge ruled that the case was so strong against Reginald that the onus was on the defendant to show that the shooting was accidental. At trial the jury deliberated for an hour and 25 minutes. On February 14, 1935 he was convicted and sentenced to death. Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German Year 1935 ( MCMXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
On appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal, Woolmington argued that the Trial judge misdirected the jury. The Court of Criminal Appeal is the name of existing courts of Scotland and Ireland, and an historic court in England and Wales. The appeal judge discounted the argument using the common law precedent as stated in "Foster's Crown Law" (1762).
- . . . In every charge of murder, the fact of killing being first proved, all the circumstances of accident, necessity, or infirmity are to be satisfactorily proved by the prisoner, unless they arise out of the evidence produced against him; for the law presumeth the fact to have been founded in malice, unless the contrary appeareth. . .
Ruling
The issue brought to the House of Lords was whether the statement of law in "Foster's Crown Law" was correct when it said that where a death occurred it is presumed to be murder unless proven otherwise.
The House of Lords could not find any basis for the claim in Foster's Crown Law. In articulating the ruling, Viscount Sankey made his famous "Golden thread" speech:
- Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt subject to what I have already said as to the defence of insanity and subject also to any statutory exception. John Sankey 1st Viscount Sankey GBE PC KGStJ ( 26 October 1866 &ndash 6 February 1948) was a prominent If, at the end of and on the whole of the case, there is a reasonable doubt, created by the evidence given by either the prosecution or the prisoner, as to whether the prisoner killed the deceased with a malicious intention, the prosecution has not made out the case and the prisoner is entitled to an acquittal. No matter what the charge or where the trial, the principle that the prosecution must prove the guilt of the prisoner is part of the common law of England and no attempt to whittle it down can be entertained. When dealing with a murder case the Crown must prove (a) death as the result of a voluntary act of the accused and (b) malice of the accused.
The conviction was overturned and Woolmington acquitted.
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