Garrow's Law (2009–…): Season 3, Episode 1 - Garrow's Law - full transcript

A writ for criminal conversation
with the plaintiff's wife.

He means to cut you off financially.

Custody of Samuel
shall reside with yourself...

if you shall admit the
child imposed upon

your husband is the
child of Mr Garrow.

I would be broken because
you had struck such a bargain!

I will not sign what is not true.

I believe I may have something
that belongs to you.

Keep it. You may need it.

You have bought me for a shilling.
But at what cost to your life?

GUNSHOT, BIRDS CRY OUT



Morning.

Garrow?

BUZZ OF CONVERSATION

HUBBUB FADES TO A HUSH

Morning.

I have not been smeared by Fleet
Street or parodied by Grub Street.

They will soon forget about it.
You must hope.

Court in session!

Your credit's no good!
Yes, sir.

"Lady Sarah Hill
has contracted diverse debts"

"and all shops and merchants
are forbidden"

"from giving credit to her
on her account."

Issued by Sir Arthur
as a public announcement.

How civilised of the man
not to bear a grudge(!)



I would gladly starve for the
one thing that would nourish me.

Your son does not belong to you.

Nothing belongs to you.

Therefore, you must avail yourself
of the charity of a third party...

which you do.

Will you ever approve of me,
Mr Southouse?

Duck eggs, samphire and...

Gourd. Gourd?

It is... a form of marrow.

It shall all make
a very singular meal.

Did you not think to acquire
some credit for me? I did forget.

You did?

How fares your credit?

At the Old Bailey?
I am bought in that place still.

I am as necessary as tea. Yet we can
prevail and continue in this?

Of course,
if we can survive the gourd.

I shall repel all callers.

LOW MURMURS

Be upstanding for the King!

What's he doing?

GASPING

GUNSHOT, SHOUTING

Ugh! Kill him!

COMMOTION AND SHOUTING

You sirs, hold there!

GASPING AND PANTING

Who are you?

My name is James Hadfield.

And there is a great deal more
and worst to come.

MURMURING

HOOVES CLATTER

You will act for him
and Mr Garrow to defend.

Madam, your husband tried
to kill the King.

It is not an easy thing to defend.

He is at Newgate. You will need
no introduction from me.

I do not understand your hurry.

I must take my leave of you...
and my husband also.

What mean you?

I hope that you and Mr Garrow
will serve him well.

I have loved this man
so very dearly,

but he is only sometimes
the man I used to know,

and it is for that man
that I engage you. Thank you.

Mrs Hadfield?

I am not bound to defend an assassin
merely because you pay me for it.

Go to Newgate. You will not find a
thwarted murderer, a martyr perhaps.

A martyr to what, Mrs Hadfield?

To his cause. And I beg
that you save him from it.

Your Highness, is this not
the disease of the French Revolution

transmitted to our shores?

They execute their king

and we must confront would-be
assassins of our own?

"The Rights Of Man",

"A Vindication
Of The Rights Of Woman".

Hardly surprising that a pamphlet
revolution begets a loaded gun.

Your Highness,
this is why this case must serve

as a means of asserting the absolute
authority of the Monarchy.

And keep any Regency Bill at bay.

And more,
a salutary lesson to zealous Whigs,

reformists and anyone who doubts
the balance of our constitution.

Which, in any case, should
always weigh in favour of... order.

ALL: Hear, hear.

WATER DRIPS, METAL CLANKS

RAIN PATTERS

DISTORTED:
..Mr Hadfield...

CHAINS CLANK

MAN CLEARS THROAT, CHAINS CLANK
..Mr Hadfield...

Mr Hadfield?

Mr Hadfield?

Mr Hadfield?

WATER DRIPS, CHAINS CLANK

Discharged from the Army,
I came to London

and made a living as a silversmith.

But weary of life,
I bought a pistol from a Mr Wakelin,

borrowed a crown
from Solomon Hougham

and bought some powder and
cast some lead slugs...

You were tired of life?

I am as good a shot
as any in England.

I do not understand.

I fired my pistol
over the Royal box.

You wished merely to be caught?

I wish for death.

To raise an alarm and then be
set upon my fellow Englishmen

who would beat me
to death in their indignation,

tear me apart
with patriotic passion.

But that did not happen,
Mr Hadfield.

Now I hope that my life
shall be forfeited at the trial.

I would still die but not by my
own hands for suicide is a sin.

You wish your existence destroyed?

Mr Garrow,
you understand what I am about.

I cannot defend him.
He does not want a defence.

His wife did not identify his cause
but I identify it now.

His cause is his own death.

A plan hatched by his madness.

Therefore, he needs a defence
from such lunacy.

The law on madness as a defence
requires total derangement,

a continuous distemper of the mind.
Hadfield has not such a condition.

But he seeks oblivion.

But half the time speaks
in utter reason!

I cannot defend him.

The law on madness
does not allow me.

Allow you? Since when have you
concerned yourself

with what you are allowed to do?
True.

But when I am required to defend the
attempted assassination of the King,

perhaps you will allow me
a little circumspection.

Think of the attention the light
from this trial will generate.

Unless you no longer
have a heart for it.

Unless your heart beats only
for the life domestic.

You would not wish me happy,
Mr Southouse?

Always. But most especially
when you stand up at the Old Bailey.

To turn a jury, to confront a liar.
Unmake a bad law.

But only when I am briefed by you?

Invariably.

I will own to a curiosity here.
But there is yet more work to do.

Then do not delay me.

I would gladly prosecute anyone who
would threaten the life of the King.

Of course I do so as a patriot,

not for any preferment
that such a case might bring.

In order to prosecute this trial,
you will be made King's Counsel.

One of his majesty's counsels
learned in law. KC.

You shall now have
that membership.

You make this appointment
obviously on the basis of merit?

And a seat on the judge's bench
will beckon eventually.

Especially if a trial such as this
goes well.

For such an appointment I would hang
the man myself, Lord Melville.

My own court.

And in my court, a trial
in which Garrow is appearing.

I would sustain every objection
made against him.

I would direct a jury
not to find for him.

Oh God, I'd make his life hell.

Impartially and in full accordance
to the strictures of the law.

This is a political trial,
Mr Silvester,

you will not simply denounce
the man in the dock.

You must let the people realise how
close this country came to calamity.

John Redknapp?

Follow me.

You are very careful, sir?

My neighbour tried to kill
the King of England.

Do you think that spies
would not be sent here?

He is sometimes like a man
not for me to be with.

He runs on, talking a whole heap
of stuff. Stuff?

As if his brain is unsettled ...
as if he's flurried in the head.

Be more specific.

He would fly from one argument
to another.

Talk of his relationship with God.

I am sure we all examine
our relationship with God.

And do we all insist
that we must die for him?

I know he wishes to die

but do you know why he wishes
to be God's martyr in particular?

You look for reasons
from such a man?

No! I look for unreason. I look
to see what depths it may plumb.

Then you would reacquaint yourself
with his wife

but she has fled and won't return.

Yet she pays me to save him.
For the man he was.

Ah, but may never forgive him
for the man he was that night.

Redknapp witnessed Hadfield in
a terrible rage. His wife screaming

and fleeing in terror
with their child.

And still fleeing, obviously.

But if we cannot find her,
we have him still to unravel.

He speaks wildly to his neighbour,
he makes his wife fearful.

He wishes his own death.

You think there may not be
a method in his madness?

Then find it and he is exposed.

And you are spared his defence.

Do you know the whereabouts
of your wife, sir?

I think her lost to me.
And your son also?

He is not yet two years old
and may never recall me.

If your wife knows of the trial,

we must hope she will come forward
as witness for you.

Or I could ask Mr Southouse
to venture to any address...

She has frustrated God's work.

By which you mean?

She did prevent me from
acting in obedience

to the superior
commands of heaven.

She is not so devout a believer?

He did not call upon her.

By which you mean, sir? I knew I was
to be a martyr and persecuted,

like my great master Jesus Christ.

I shall have my trial, as Jesus did
before he was crucified.

This commission coming from where,
Mr Hadfield?

I am in constant contact
with the Author of All Things.

He has warned me that at the
beginning of the 19th century,

the world will perish unless I
sacrifice myself for his salvation.

I see.

I see.

If you are to play this part, sir,
do you not think it requires

something more in the way
of an antic disposition, hm?

Some more acting out?

Suicide being a crime and a sin,
I went to the theatre

and shot towards the King
in the hope that by my crime

my life would otherwise
be taken from me.

As it is death I wish for,
death I seek.

For nothing but death will satisfy
God, who calls me to his presence,

where I shall witness his Second Coming
as his true descendant and loyal son.

Your words run together like
a fervent prayer, sir,

but I see no drool.

No raving frenzy
that will convince me.

You mock me, sir?
Is this all counterfeit?

It is a solemn promise to God.

You think to kill the King
from some vile opinion

and then feign that your mind
is not your own.

But a plea of insanity would require
something more in the way

of constancy of that condition.
Do you understand?

You are not a madman, sir.

But a failed assassin
who has the wits to try a defence.

Then would I not wish its success?

But I do not because I must
be found guilty, Mr Garrow.

Well then, plead so, sir! Plead so!

You have no need of me!
You have no need of a jury!

Let the judge dispatch you.

I loyally served my country
in the 15th Light Dragoons

and I will never plead guilty
to treason.

It was not my aim to kill the King

and I will not be known in history
as such a man.

But you still wish a jury
to find you guilty?

And so dispatch you?
I'm sorry if I confound you.

Sarah?

Sarah?

Samuel is not here, Sarah.

Three months we have been in Europe.

Was my absence not meant
to quieten this... ridicule?!

How do they draw you?

Show me!

Variously.

Here... with my arse set
on both sides of the Channel.

And how do they write about me?

As someone who has worshipped
at the shrine of Venus.

As a lover of variety.

Well, there is not much variety
to be had here in Bramber.

I think you know
they mean the beaux you've...

recruited to your cause.

And you know I mean that we are
a very long way from any theatre

and from the tables at Brookes.

Then promenade in Brighton!

I cannot be in London. I cannot
stoke their contemptuous attention.

This may be your constituency
but must it also be your exile?

Well, it does seem so.

Arthur...

I care not for my disgrace

and find ways to content myself
despite it.

You must either face down
your reputation or rehabilitate it.

If not, you will never come
to anyone's attention.

You are a very rare mistress.

A bird of paradise
cannot survive in Sussex.

BABY CRIES

Sound of a cuckoo.

Sir Arthur is in Bramber?
Yes, m'lady.

M'lady?

I hope Bedlam can offer you
enlightenment.

This way, gentlemen.

A place where muddled minds
may find refuge and understanding

and so might we.

The incurables, gentlemen.

A sorry spectacle,
I'm sure you'll agree.

And are inmates held communally?

Ladies' ward and men's ward ...
where I reside.

Mr Creighton's office is just here,
gentlemen.

Thank you, Vincent.

Vincent. Resident of the men's ward,
apparently.

Vincent is enjoying
a sunnier day than is usual.

He can, in his darker moods,
foam like Niagara,

and has to be
restrained with a jacket

for the purpose to prevent
the ebullitions of his anger.

His anger must indeed be fierce.
What occasions it?

He thinks himself cheated
of his fortune by a lawyer.

We shall not broach that subject
on the way out.

James Hadfield is to be prosecuted

for the attempted assassination
of the King.

Previous defences of
insanity are based on the

idea of men having a
deprivation of reason,

memory and understanding.
The law requires it.

Thank you. In other words, the
accused has to be demonstrably mad.

The mind stormed in its citadel,
quite defeated by frenzy.

Reason not merely disturbed
but wholly driven from her seat.

We do not defend such a man.

And I have rarely experienced
such a madness in men.

So madness, as defined in law,
is simply wrong?

"I am but mad north/north-west
but when the wind is southerly

"I can tell a hawk from a handsaw".

Hamlet telling Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern

that although he may act
the part of a lunatic,

he still has his wits about him.

And often times the genuinely mad
do also have their wits.

Vincent, for instance?

Yes. He is not today
in the grip of his delusion.

Delusion? A false impression.

Which sits alongside other views
that are not false at all?

Which are quite correct.

And so ability is not proof
of sanity?

No. Delusions exist at the utmost
state of ability.

So a man may show proper sentiment
in one instance

and on another subject...

The subject of his lunacy.

Complete irrationality.

I think we make progress.

Our defence is not merely madness

but setting about the understanding
of madness!

Better described as a malady.
Exactly.

It will put us in
dangerous territory. What mean you?

Have you not heard the King
described as afflicted in that way?

Then we are in very good company.

This cannot be!
You think it so unnatural?

I think it is beyond sense.

Success is unlikely,

the cost astronomical,
and you do not possess the means.

I have acquired the means,
so issue the writ.

How did you acquire them?
In a way that is right.

In a way that is legal?
I will have my son.

Does William know you intend this?

Issue the writ, Mr Southouse.

You think to save me?

I think to save you
from your madness.

Madness?

I behold a glorious calling,
Mr Garrow. A life everlasting

in the brilliance
of God's countenance.

And the countenance of your wife?

You do not linger ever on that?

The love that she has shown for you.

I so do wish to see her.

You do?

In order that I may say goodbye.

Before you embrace the greater glory
of your sacrifice?

I cannot ignore it.

And I must do my duty

and save you from yourself.

There he is!

CROWDS CLAMOUR

The court shall rise.

What madness lies abroad,

when our good King
can be shot at in a public theatre?

MURMURS OF AGREEMENT

What atrocities lie in wait for us,
when the Royal Box

of the Drury Lane theatre
is assailed by gunshot

that has our monarch falling
to his knees to escape his death?

CROWD SHOUTS IN AGREEMENT

And although we may give thanks that
the King may live and thrive still,

society demands that this assassin
be exposed in all his darkness.

SHOUTS OF AGREEMENT

If a man is completely deranged,

so that he does not know what
he does nor its consequences,

is lost to all sense,

is incapable of distinguishing
between good and evil,

then the mercy of our law says
that he cannot be guilty of a crime.

Even one so monstrous

as the attempted murder
of the King of England.

But I do not defend such a man.

He's not completely deranged.

He did know what he tried to do
and he has not lost all sense.

According to our law,
my client is guilty

because he is not mad enough,

he is not demonstrably mad.

He is not mad at all times.
He is not mad now.

But it will be my defence,
gentlemen, my argument, to show that

madness is not some wild land

to which those afflicted
are forever banished

but that it is
a bewildering place...

to visit and to return from,
sometimes in a matter of hours.

Buller, call an adjournment.

Mr Silvester,

you will call your first witness.

My Lord, there is some
new development that requires...

Adjournment?!

If I may beg your indulgence.

MUTTERING

If Hadfield is found to be mad,

then the nature of his lunacy
may be said to be shared

by others of a, ahem, nervous
disposition that does afflict them.

You talk of the King?

How fares he, your Highness?

He's been out of sorts.

Oh. We allowed him to walk
in the grounds at Kew Gardens

but he did spy
Fanny Burney there and...

And... then, your Highness?

He spoke to her
of all manner of things.

All manner of things?

His physician calls it
a derangement of his faculties,

that he suffers from
a bilious fever.

But at other times,
he has a very sound perception.

Imagine this! A monarch removed
not by the guillotine

but by the comings and goings
of his mind.

Then I must refute the condition
of Mr Hadfield's mind.

He must be shown to be as sane
as any one of us.

And I must find out who Mr Garrow
calls for the defence.

To what purpose?

John Redknapp?

I saw the prisoner raise
a horse pistol in the auditorium

and then take aim at the King.

SHOCKED MUTTERING

And before the first shot was fired,
your Highness?

As the shot was fired, a stagehand
raised the arm of the assassin

so as to direct the contents of the
pistol into the roof of the Royal box.

Then, your Royal Highness,

he did not aim to miss?

The King was saved by a stagehand
and a patriot.

ALL: Hear, hear!

And then, your Highness?

The orchestra played
God Save The King. Ha!

Mr Garrow...

In the whole of the conversation which
your Highness had with this man,

did he betray in his answers
any irregularity

in which you could collect

a then existing derangement
of his understanding?

Not the least.

No more questions, my lord.

Your Highness, how fares the King
after his ordeal?

Quite recovered.

I understand he has been cupped,
purged and blistered of late.

I trust that has quickened
his recovery?

Thank you, yes, that is so.

Mr Garrow, you will address yourself

to the facts of the night
in question.

My lord, of course.

Will your Highness have the goodness
to recollect

whether there was anything more said
by Mr Hadfield?

He said something like,
"The worst had not happened yet",

or "More is to come."

So the act about which
he was most deliberate

was the destruction
of his own life?

A happy consequence of assassinating
the King, perhaps?

That does not seem like a very collected
state of mind, would you agree?

You will address the witness as
your Royal Highness, Mr Garrow!

Will it please your Royal Highness
to address the question?

The enormity of the crime
he had embarked on had,

perhaps, shaken him.

MURMURS OF AGREEMENT

Had you previously encountered
the prisoner?

His face seemed familiar.

He reminded me he'd been one of my
orderlies at the battle of Freymar.

And you recollect him loyal,
your Royal Highness?

A good soldier.
A good soldier?

A good soldier.

In battle against the French,
in service of the King.

And now with some rational motive
to kill him? I think not.

Are assassins ever rational?

If their design is to kill someone.

It may be alarming
but it has reason.

Such as when the King believes

the nation is about to be inundated
in a great flood.

His warning alarming
but his reason, surely,

to strengthen our flood defences?

You will not compare the King and
the man who tried to destroy him.

Mr Garrow, I do hope you have
no further questions!

Mr Silvester,
you may call your next witness.

My Lord, I call Mr John Redknapp.

I swear by almighty God

to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth.

Can you say something of the mood
and bearing of your neighbour

on the day in question, Mr Redknapp?

He was as well as
I've ever seen him.

And, um,
how did he go about his business?

Nothing but as usual.

Conversation disjointed in any way?

He spoke of going to attend
a performance

at the Drury Lane Theatre.

SHOCKED MUTTERING

And your acquaintance
with him previously,

any evidence of lunacy? Never.

Liar! Perjurer!

Southouse! One more outburst
like that and I'll have you removed!

Mr Hadfield procures a firearm.

Mr Hadfield positions himself
at the Drury Lane Theatre,

in order to get the best
possible shot at the King.

In short, Mr Hadfield exhibits
a steady and resolute design,

requiring planning, precision
and pinpoint timing.

Is this a madman in a frenzy?

Is this a man
so deprived of understanding

that he knows no more
of what he is doing than a brute,

or a wild beast?
He purchased powder and shot!

Do wild beasts negotiate
commercial transactions?

LAUGHTER

I am a little confused,
Mr Redknapp.

You were to appear here
as witness for the defence.

I wish to retract the statement
I had previously made.

That is quite evident. Your previous
statement not merely retracted,

rather turned on its head.

I had been mistaken.

And I too, then. For my attorney
took you as an honest man.

Mr Garrow,
let the court condemn or commend.

Mr Redknapp. Mr Redknapp!

Have you ever seen the prisoner
exhibit any kind of disturbance?

Only when his blood
has been inflamed through drink!

CHUCKLING

You've seen him drunk
on many occasions?

He likes his liquor, sir.

You do realise that Mr Hadfield
has in recent years been temperate,

as required
by his religious convictions.

You are aware of the prisoner's
religious convictions?

No, sir, no.

He's not drunk beer or liquor
in five years.

So perhaps you may help me wonder
what else might cause

this "inflammation of the blood"
that you speak of?

I cannot venture.

I do not know.

We adjourn.

My lord!

For refreshment.

The court shall rise.

We must hope that Mr Creighton
can convince

that an all-or-nothing definition
of madness is a nonsense.

Or else...
or else if I could demonstrate

the nature of Hadfield's mind
to the jury.

Alas, it is his wife who knows best
the mind of her husband.

Yes, but she is gone.

I will speak to Redknapp again.

You thought him in difficulty
about it? Some may call it that.

KNOCKING
You will allow me entry here,

or I will see you taken
to the magistrates for perjury.

And make it known
to your neighbours of Southwark

that you are a government spy
and in their pay.

You think they will allow
such a man to live peaceably here?

You mean to have me killed?
I mean to have Hadfield saved.

Were you not threatened
by Lord Melville?

Yes! But I am a worthy man
despite my testimony.

Worthy?

Worthy of what, Mr Redknapp?

A woman flees her husband's madness,

carrying her child.

She would look for safety,
sanctuary, soonest and nearest.

You have seen his humours and as you
say, you are not without virtue.

And so you open your door to her.
Such a woman should not suffer so.

Such a woman, no.

I begged her to stay with me.

Alas, I could not persuade her.

Where did she go to?

I hoped her refusal to stay on
with me merely a practical matter...

Where to, Mr Redknapp?

But I saw her return
to him again.

Where, when?

At the Bailey. She is in there?!

In the gallery. She loves him still.

You lied in court that he may be
killed and his widow turn to you?

Such a man should not live.

"We command you that you bring
before us in the Court of Chancery"

"the body of Samuel Hill,"

"who is detained in your custody."

So not only does she break
into my house to steal my property,

she thinks to have Samuel
returned to her!

You think it not part
of some bargain

she aims to negotiate with you?

If it were me, I would be seeking
considerably more pin money.

She funds her action
with stolen jewellery.

I wonder she could not attach
herself to a wealthy benefactor.

Well, she's not you, Henrietta.
She has Mr Garrow for company.

Well, then, they collude here.

You think it so?

Why else would an adulterous woman
presume to take a child

away from its father
with Garrow to encourage her?

The Crim Con trial turned out
to be the most pyrrhic victory.

I shall confound them here
far more unequivocally.

It may also restore
your reputation.

She would not only be challenging
your authority

but the authority of all men
who are fathers.

And you... would quickly gain
the sympathy of all men.

And you offer this remedy because of
your great feeling for me?

I offer this remedy because it must
take us back to London.

Soonest! Ahh.

SHE WHOOPS WITH DELIGHT

BABY CRIES

Mr Creighton, would you please name
the usual symptoms of lunacy?

Uncommon fury, jealousy or suspicion
without cause or grounds.

Simply symptoms
of a vicious character then?

Mr Silvester, wait your turn!

Mr Creighton, you have carried out
an examination of the prisoner.

Please afford the Court an opinion,
or rather an insight,

based on your
considerable experience.

The condition of Mr Hadfield
does not manifest itself constantly.

I see.

And so there is no total deprivation
of memory and reason? Correct.

Then how or when does his condition
manifest itself?

If any question concerning
common matters is put to him,

he answers very correctly.
But if any question is put to him

which refers to the subject of his
lunacy, he answers irrationally.

Delusions are very powerful forces.

They cannot be shaken by perception
or sense.

Delusion sets in like a disease?

It infects just as much.

Can the delusion appear
in the utmost state of ability?

The ability to purchase pistol and shot
and take one's place at the theatre?

Yes. Even when the delusion
which propels the action

has no foundation or existence.

This argument is somewhat... new.

That madness is,
if not also occasional,

then somehow the false reality
of a diseased mind?

My Lord, I contend that
the total deprivation

of understanding and memory
is a legal fiction.

Mr Creighton, if, as you suggest,
madness is not a total state,

do you mean by that then
that the insane suffer periods

when they are not themselves?

Yes, I agree with that.

Good! Then during other times,

if I am to understand you,

they show a partial degree
of reason?

Yes.

Then can we not say that
the prisoner WAS in his true state

when he committed the crime?

Not if we accept
the real motivation for the action.

The satisfactions and fulfillment
of the delusion

that brought Mr Hadfield
before the King.

Ah! Is it
every frantic and idle humour

of a man to be exempted
from justice and the law?

Are there not many circumstances
that can displace a "good self"?

Greed...

envy...

malice...

the coveting of another man's horse?

LAUGHTER

You could not
take your leave of him after all.

I am loyal still but I feel
I must hide in plain sight.

You can be more loyal yet.

If you give some
understanding to the jury

about the nature of
your husband's madness,

then we may have a compelling
defence. I do not wish his death!

Your attendance here
speaks of your heart.

You think that so? I am as afraid of
the pardon that may be granted him!

Because of the events of that night?

I would not be able to bear
to recollect them in court.

In any case, they may condemn him.

Or save him, madam.

But I fear I will provoke him!
Provoke what does afflict him!

You must allow me that provocation.

My Lord, I call Mrs Ann Hadfield.

I swear by Almighty God
to tell the truth, the whole truth

and nothing but the truth.

Mrs Hadfield, could you please
give a description

of your husband's true self?

SHE CLEARS HER THROAT
Most times he was good and kind.

And other times?

He would confound me.

Buy a new jacket

and then immediately part with it
for an old and tattered one.

Or lie awake at night
singing psalms and hymns,

or simply walk about in the middle
of the night unable to sleep.

I had still only then thought
his behaviour odd, or queer,

or flighty...

Until such time as when,
Mrs Hadfield?

Something that you can not
so easily give a name to?

I could give a name to it,

but it is hardly
to be thought about. Of course.

If you would try to recall,
for your husband's sake.

I will not send him
to the gallows here? You will not.

You must simply speak the truth.

Then...

the night before he took
the pistol to the theatre,

I knew what he had a mind to do,

and begged him to think of our son,

of the duty he had to him.

I was holding our infant
in my arms...

and suddenly...

my husband dragged the child
from my arms...

Please try to continue.

I saw him! I saw his purpose!
Mr Hadfield...

His purpose?
His purpose to thwart you?

Sent to confuse and detain me!

A child held by his mother?
A snake!

Writhing in the bosom of the devil!

Mr Garrow! Who do you examine?!

And you had to be worthy of Christ,
did you not?

I could not delay
to purify myself with death.

You could not allow the child
to delay you.

The old ways of life
must come to an end

before Christ can come

and bring about our resurrection
and my renewal!

You sought to repel this awful
creature who would prevent that?

I took the one
that did pretend to be my son...

from the one that did pretend
to be his mother

and try to dash his brains
against the wall!

SHOCKED EXCLAMATIONS

Until?

Until Ann rescued him from me.

And through my tears
gave up my assault upon...

Upon?

Upon this snake, this tempter.

Who was also my beloved child.

At the moment that
he tried to kill his son,

he could have had a rational
conversation about

any circumstance of his past life.

And anything connected
with his present.

Except only the quality of the act
he was meditating.

James Hadfield knew perfectly well

that he was the husband of this
woman and the father of the child.

And yet still he was in thrall
to the over-ruling dominion

of a morbid imagination.

Did he not cry because he knew the evil
he was doing and the consequences?

He cried because he could not stop
what he was doing.

He could not stop his
sickly purpose.

Mr Silvester, do you have
any questions for the witness?

No, my Lord.
I merely wish to address the jury

before you ask them
to return a verdict.

As you wish.

We are told this is a man who,
as manifestation of his lunacy,

wished nothing more
than to bring about his own death.

If this be so,
I have one very simple question.

Why did he not plead guilty?

Why avail himself of a defence?

If he wishes to ensure
his own destruction,

why seek out the wiles
and stratagems of Mr Garrow

to avert such a fate?

No, I would avert it!

I would have a defence for the sake of
my husband, for the man he once was.

The man you can still sometimes be.

Mr Garrow.

Where James Hadfield bears the
appearance of purpose and planning,

he retained no capacity
to appreciate

the legal consequences
of his behaviour.

And by the law's notion of intent,

James Hadfield had not chosen
to kill the King.

I hope that your sound
understandings, gentlemen,

will easily enable you
to distinguish

infirmities which are misfortunes,

from motives which are crimes.

Well, gentlemen,
depravity or disease?

The true self displaced,

or an act of wilful deliberation
and wicked purpose?

Mr Garrow argues here for a change
in the law on madness.

No small debate. Will you allow it?

The decision you reach today may...
no, WILL have profound consequences.

Deliberate
and we will have your verdict.

You've reached a verdict?

We have. How do you find?

Not guilty.

LOUD MUTTERING

The prisoner, for his own sake and
for the sake of society at large,

must not be discharged.

I suggest he be properly
disposed of,

all mercy and humanity being shown
this unfortunate creature.

The court shall rise.

Congratulations.
You have made a successful defence,

and the reward for your client
is indefinite incarceration.

You must know that it may be
possible for patients to recover

if simply confined
in peaceful surroundings.

And so I commend you
to the care of Mr Creighton here.

I hope that one day I will be
grateful to you, Mr Garrow.

Then I wish you peace, James.

Some resolution here at least,
Mr Southouse.

And are you resolved and settled
in your own house?

What mean you?

About the service I have performed
for Lady Sarah in the way of Samuel.

I am in Parliament tomorrow
to announce a new treason bill.

You propose to make such trials
less likely to fail?

I propose to make it clear that
we seek to circumscribe the rights

of all those who will announce
their disenfranchisement.

Madmen, slaves, Irish,
Catholics, women.

Gentlemen! We must press them down
in their delirium.

A writ of Habeas Corpus
against Hill?

It will require him
to produce Samuel in court

and show cause
why he should detain him.

You think he'll simply submit
to you?

My Lord Melville?

Hill? We may travel together,
I think.

Can that still be so?
If you'll hear me.

I am called to a custody hearing.

My absolute right as a father
is to be questioned. Challenged.

My God, the sickness of the age
is truly upon us.

I will not let it overcome me.

And my defence is a remedy.

You seek not merely custody
from this?

If the trial brings
my rehabilitation as a man,

it must also bring it
as a politician.

And Garrow in this?

Of course. She lives
as his dependent since the trial.

Avenge it.

Who to represent you? Not you
in the cause of custody.

Your presence could be
used to show Samuel

lives with his mother
and her lover.

You have given it some thought?

Have you paid as much attention to the
bill that will be presented to you?

I went to the house.
I took the jewels I used to wear

and exchanged... Under the law,
they do not belong to you!

He has stolen my son!

If I cannot represent
you at Kings Bench,

I may have cause
to represent you

at the Bailey,
as you stand in the dock.

I warn you,
Hill will come for his retribution.

They are charged with breaking looms
and cutting silk.

He has issued me with a writ.

All I ever had is his in law.

Am I still to call you uncle then?

You are my brother's son,
what else should you call me?

Samuel's absence is a wound.

Give him back to me.
We shall see whom the law prefers.

These two are lost.

You think so?

Oh, I'm sure of it.