The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1907-07-04

10 these questions fifteen English
judges responded as follows:
l. "The jury ought to be told in all
cases that every man is presumed to be
sane, and to possess sufficient degree
OF reason to be responsible for his
crimes, until the contrary be proved to
their satisfaction; and that to establish
defense on the ground of insanity it
must be be clearly proved that at the
time OF committing the act the party
accused was laboring under such de-
feet OF reason, from disease of the mind,
as not to know the nature or quality of
the act he was doing, or if he did know
it that he did not know he was doing
what was wrong.
z. assuming that your inquiries are
confined to those persons who labor
under such partial delusion only, and
are not in other respects insane, we are
OF opinion that, notwithstanding the
party did the act complained of with a
view, under the influence of the de-
fusion, of redressing or revenging some
supposed grievance or injury, or of pro-
ducing some public benefit, he is never
theless punishable according to the
nature OF the crime committed, if he
knew at the time of committing such
crime that he was acting contrary to
law * u
3. "The answer to the second question
must of course depend upon the nature
OF the delusion; but making the same
assumption as we did before, that he
labors under such partial delusion only,
and is not in other respects insane, we
think he must be considered in the same
situation as to responsibility as if the
facts with respect to which the de-
fusion exists was real. For example, if
under the influence of his delusion he
supposes another man to be in the act of
attempting to take his life. and he kills
that man, as he supposes in self-defense,
he would be exempt from punishment.
Ii his delusion was that the deceased
had inflicted serious injury to his
character or fortune, and he kills in re-
venge for supposed injury, he would be
liable to punishment"
These conclusions of the fifteen Judges
have received some criticism, and in the
light OF more recent observation and ex-
perit nee, their soundness in various re-
spects have been questioned, if not de-
stroyed. 1t has been said that they
take no note of irresistible impulses of
the insane to do wrongful acts, and
hold partially insane person as re-
sponsible as sane person.
Of the principles laid down by these
judges it has been OBJ erved by good
authority on insanity, that they are
open to the following objections:
1. To make decisions the sole test
of insanity in criminal cases, and especi-
ally in cases of homicide, is at complete
variance with the we'll asserted facts
of impulsive insanity, in which the ex-
istence of delusion can be distinctively
negatived, as we'll as in many forms of
emotional insanity, in which the delu-
sion form no necessary feature of the
disease.
2. On the other hand the test of
knowledge of right and wrong is con-
demned by the notorious fact that
great many insane patients, and even
inbeciles, have clear conception of the
two ideas. Indeed, the whole manage
ment OF asylums pre-supposes know
ledge Of right and wrong on the part of
inmates.
3. Nothing is more illogical than the
statement of that law in reference to
| ChS POI C1o1lJ 1uoduCs IL dulOuuIS W
nothing less than absolute denial of the
significance of state of things univer-
sally acknowledged to constitute a
valid test of insanity. The error has
arisen from confounding single and
harmless delusion, with those that effect
the insane. Such single delusions
are doubtless compatible with self re-
straint; but they are of rare occurrence,
and do not often figure in courts of law,
and although harmless as as they may
seem to be we cannot safely assume
however that they may not take a
dangerous turn. AS said by Justice
Field, that if a man should believe
that he is the Crystal Palace, may seem
very harmless fancy; but it he grew
angry with the government for remov-
ing it, to assassinate some member of
the government, would be far less illog-
zeal than the fancy ITSELF
| The partial delusion of the insane are
much more common, but when they are
closely examined, they are found to be
the offspring and natural expression of
some one excited feeling or passion,
which having had force enough to
create illusions of the senses and delu-
sions of the mind, may be expected to
give rise to insane impulses of great
power; to which we may add that a
multitude of delusions implies mental
confusion and excitement in proportion,
and that in many instances these con-
ditions are heightened by the co-exist-
ance with delusions of the mind and
illusions of the senses, an Elusive trans
formation of real objects and persons.
The existing feels or passions which,
having destroyed the integrity Of the
senses and mental faculties, proceed to
instigate acts of violence and cruelty.
Now, the acts of violence which ulti-
mately flow from excited feelings or
passions, the true source of delusion,
ought to be judged by the same rules
that apply to the delusions themselves.
1t is reasonable and logic to infer that
the acts are as little subject to re-
straint as the decisions to correction.
What right have we to assume that the
man who cannot control his thoughts is
master of his actions. However the
degree of insanity that excuses from