John Bodkin Adams - Legal Legacy

Legal Legacy

Adams's trial had many effects on the English legal system.

• The first was establishing the principle of double effect that if a doctor "gave treatment to a seriously ill patient with the aim of relieving pain or distress, as a result of which that person's life was inadvertently shortened, the doctor was not guilty of murder."
• Owing to the potentially prejudicial evidence that was mentioned in the committal hearing (regarding Hullett – evidence that would then not be used in Adams's first trial for murdering Morrell) the Tucker Committee was held, which led to the law being changed in the subsequent Criminal Justice Act 1967 to restrict what might be published about committal hearings to avoid pretrial publicity.
• Though a defendant had never been required to give evidence in his own defence, Judge Devlin underlined in his summing-up that no prejudice should be attached by the jury to Adams not doing so.
• The case also led to changes in Dangerous Drugs Regulations, meaning that Schedule IV poisons required a signed and dated record of patient details and the total dose used.