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Insanity The focus of this paper is to evaluate the development of the criminal law in relation to the defence of insanity. There have been many criticisms made of the M'Naghten Rules, which provides the guidelines for a plea of insanity. It has been said that these Rules have been 'largely policy driven', which has resulted in the labelling of those who otherwise be considered 'sane' as 'insane' and prevented insanity pleas from those who were clearly suffering from a mental illness. We will focus on the principles of these Rules and the development of common law to help us determine whether there is weight behind these criticisms, which will enable us to put forward how the area of law might be reformed. Let us begin with the defence of insanity, which is a defence to all crimes, except strict liability where no mental element is required (DPP v H (1997),...

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