The criminal responsibility of the insane : a lecture introductory to the session 1885-6 / by Charles J. Cullingworth.

  • Charles James Cullingworth
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The criminal responsibility of the insane : a lecture introductory to the session 1885-6 / by Charles J. Cullingworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ] Hadfleld’s case, 1800. management of himself and his affairs, that is to say, has visited him with civil disability, on evidence of a degree of mental incapacity falling far short of such an utter deprivation of reason. It is difficult to find any logical ground for this distinction between the legal consequences of the civil and criminal acts of an insane person. To quote the words of a very able American writer on this subject, it is as if the law said to the insane man, “ Your reason is too much impaired to manage your property; you are unable to distinguish between those measures which would conduce to your profit and such as would end in your ruin, and therefore it is wisely taken altogether from your control; but if under the influence of one of those insane delusions that have rendered this step necessary, you should kill your neighbour, you will be supposed to have acted under the guidance of a sound reason, you will be tried, convicted and executed like any common crimi- nal, whose understanding has never been touched by madness.” The extremely crude notions of criminal responsibility which found expression in the ruling of Mr. Justice Tracy continued to prevail undisturbed for seventy-seven years, when Mr. Erskine, afterwards Lord Erskine, introduced a new test, which was a distinct step in advance. In the year 1800, it maybe remembered that a man named Had- lield was tried for shooting at the King in Drury Lane Theatre. Erskine undertook his defence. Hadfield imagined that he was in constant communication with the Almighty, that the world was coming to an end, and that he was called upon to sacrifice himself for its salvation. Not wishing to be guilty of suicide, it occurred to him