Attempted murder a misdemeanor in 1790 England?

Factual Questions
1

This refers to an episode of “Garrow’s Law”, but my question is not Cafe Society related.

The episode is based a real case, available in the (very cool) search able Old Bailey Archives:

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17900708-1&div=t17900708-1&terms=Renwick|Williams#highlight

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=o17901208-3&div=o17901208-3&terms=Renwick|Williams#highlight

Basically, Renwick Williams is indicted for cutting and ripping the clothes of Ann Porter. In the episode Garrow argues that the court found that the primary purpose was to maim or kill which is not the crime in the indictment, and that he should be tried for the “lesser crime of intent to maim or kill which is a misdemeanor”

Now I get the legal loophole of not matching the crime to the findings, but was intent to maim or kill really a misdemeanor?

Brian

2

I’ve never seen Garrow’s law, but they seem to have misapprehended the proceedings. In Renwick’s case, they found that it was not proven that his actions had satisfied the terms of the statute, and no felony statute covered his true actions. Instead, they remanded him for the common law crime of assault, which was a misdemeanor.