Title Witnessing insanity : madness and mad-doctors in the English court / Joel Peter Eigen ; foreword by Nigel Walker

Published New Haven : Yale University Press, ©1995

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Description 1 online resource (xv, 240 pages) Contents Foreword / Nigel Walker -- 1. Crime, Punishment, and the Jury in Eighteenth-Century England -- 2. Insanity -- the Legal Context -- 3. Insanity and Medical Psychology -- 4. The Lay Witness's Testimony -- 5. Medical Testimony in Insanity Trials, I: How the Prisoner Met the Doctor -- 6. Medical Testimony in Insanity Trials, II: What the Mad-Doctor Said in Court -- 7. The Prisoner's Defense -- Conclusion: A Medical Question at All? -- Appendix 1: Deciding When and Where to Quantify -- Appendix 2: Medical Witnesses Who Testified at the Old Bailey about the Mental Condition of the Accused, 1760-1843 Summary In 1760 Earl Ferrers attempted to convince his peers in the House of Lords that he was suffering from "occasional insanity" on the day he killed his servant. A medical witness - or mad-doctor - participated in Ferrers's trial, testifying about the symptoms of lunacy. The physician's opinion marked the early stirrings of forensic psychiatry, a form of expert testimony that would eventually challenge the fundamental tenets of criminal responsibility This intriguing book by Joel Eigen is the first systematic investigation of the evolution of medical testimony in British insanity trials from its beginnings in 1760 to 1843, when the Insanity Rules were formulated during the trial of Daniel McNaughtan. Based on verbatim testimony of courtroom participants - the ordinary as well as the notorious - the book shows how the conception of madness changed over time, how ambitious defense attorneys began to make use of medical opinion on madness, how the self-proclaimed specialists distanced themselves from lay witnesses, and how defendants offered the court a glimpse of madness "from the inside." Eigen goes beyond existing accounts of famous trials to analyze the elements and development of the insanity defense in hundreds of ordinary prosecutions ranging from burglary and forgery to sheep stealing. Drawing on recent scholarship on eighteenth-century crime and punishment, he sheds new light on how the legal system adapted to a novel definition of insanity that blurred traditional conceptions of human will, self-control, and criminal responsibility Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-236) and index Notes Print version record Subject Insanity (Law) -- Great Britain -- History Forensic psychiatry -- Great Britain -- History Mental illness -- Great Britain -- History Insanity Defense -- history Forensic Psychiatry -- history LAW -- Legal History. Mental illness Forensic psychiatry Insanity (Law) Gerichtliche Psychiatrie Geschichte Täter Psychische Störung Psychische stoornissen. Toerekeningsvatbaarheid. Rechtspraak. SUBJECT United Kingdom Subject Great Britain England Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780300156737 0300156731

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