The Infanticide Act 1938 (1 & 2 Geo 6 c 36) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It creates the offence of infanticide for

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

Section 1 - Offence of infanticide

Sections 1(1) to (3) now read:

Amendments

The word "if" was substituted for the words "notwithstanding that" in sections 1(1) and (2) by sections 57(2)(a) and (3)(a) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. The words "or manslaughter" were inserted in sections 1(1) and (2) by sections 57(2)(a) and (3)(a) of that Act. The words at the end of section 1(3) were repealed by Part III of Schedule 3 to the

Criminal Law Act 1967 The Criminal Law Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made some major changes to English criminal law, as part of wider liberal reforms by the Labour government elected in 1966. Most of it is still in force. Territ ...

. Section 1(4) was also repealed by that Part.

"Notwithstanding that"

In ''R v Gore'', the Court of Appeal held that this expression meant "even if".

Restriction on institution of proceedings

Proceedings against a woman for infanticide, if the injury alleged to have caused the death was sustained more than three years before the death occurred, or the person has previously been convicted of an offence committed in circumstances alleged to be connected with the death, may only be instituted by or with the consent of the Attorney General.

Alternative verdict

Where on the trial of any person for infanticide the jury are of the opinion that the person charged is not guilty of infanticide, but that she is shown by the evidence to be guilty of

child destruction Child destruction is the name of a statutory offence in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Hong Kong. The offence of that name has been abolished and replaced in Victoria, Australia. Child destruction is the crime of killing an unborn but v ...

, the jury may find her guilty of that offence.

Mode of trial

Infanticide is

triable only on indictment In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing ...

Sentence

The effect of the words "punished as if she had been guilty of the offence of manslaughter" is that a person convicted of infanticide is liable to

imprisonment for life Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

.'' Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice''. 1999. Paragraph 19-141 at page 1598.

Section 2 - Short title, extent and repeal

Section 2(2) provides that the Act does not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland. Section 2(3) repealed the

Infanticide Act 1922 The Infanticide Act is the name of two 20th-century acts in English law that started treating the killing of an infant child by its mother during the early months of life as a lesser crime than murder. England and Wales The Infanticide Act 1922 e ...

. It was in turn repealed by the

Statute Law Revision Act 1950 The Statute Law Revision Act 1950 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This Act was partly in force in Great Britain at the end of 2010. The enactments which were repealed (whether for the whole or any part of the United Kingdom) ...

because it was spent by virtue of the

Interpretation Act 1889 The Interpretation Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict c 63) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In Northern IrelandSection 48(2)of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 provided that without prejudice to 48(1) of that Act, the Inte ...

References

* Halsbury's Statutes,

External links

*
The Infanticide Act 1938
as amended from the National Archives.
The Infanticide Act 1938
as originally enacted from the National Archives. {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1938 Infanticide