The Infanticide Act 1938 was one of two pieces of inter-war legislation that established, and refined, the offence of infanticide within the criminal law in England and Wales. Under the Act, where a woman was found to have been responsible for the death of her child of less than one year, but at the time of the act the ‘balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child or by reason of the effect of lactation’, she could be found guilty of infanticide rather than capital murder, and be treated and punished as though she had been guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter.
The full version of this landmark is written by Kelly-Ann Cousins. Her research was funded by the Wellcome Trust [Grant number 221299/Z/20/Z].