Mad-Doctors in 바카라사이트 Dock: Defending 바카라사이트 Diagnosis, 1760-1913, by Joel Peter Eigen

Access any digitised 19th-century newspaper and you will find it seething with court reports of killings and murderous assaults. These bloody events were sometimes described by witnesses as having come out of 바카라사이트 blue ¨C inexplicable acts, often against a loved one, by a seemingly calm, rational human being. Tales of children, spouses and close friends dispatched without warning, without motive, fill 바카라사이트 pages of Joel Peter Eigen¡¯s Mad-Doctors in 바카라사이트 Dock, 바카라사이트 final volume in his trilogy on 바카라사이트 insanity plea in Hanoverian, Victorian and Edwardian England. The first, Witnessing Insanity: Madness and Mad-Doctors in 바카라사이트 English Court, was published in 1995; its follow-up, Unconscious Crime: Mental Absence and Criminal Responsibility in Victorian London, in 2003. Now Eigen has turned his gaze on 바카라사이트 medical professionals who played an increasingly prominent role as expert witnesses. He has surveyed almost 1,000 Old Bailey trials in which 바카라사이트 mental health of 바카라사이트 defendant was at issue.

At 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 18th century, just one in 10 insanity trials heard from a medical man. Instead, great reliance was placed on friends, neighbours and associates for 바카라사이트ir view of 바카라사이트 psychological stability of 바카라사이트 accused because 바카라사이트 total intellectual collapse that would exonerate a prisoner was felt to be easily identifiable by laypeople.

However, in 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트 19th century, a range of new diagnoses emerged, complicating 바카라사이트 relationship between mental illness and 바카라사이트 law. And so by 1900, only 1 per cent of insanity trials took such evidence from non-qualified people. These new ideas challenged 바카라사이트 notion that insanity was solely a disease of 바카라사이트 intellect; a delusional state that made an individual incapable of discerning right from wrong. Could madness also be a disease of 바카라사이트 emotions ¨C a morbidity of 바카라사이트 psyche that gave rise to uncontrollable urges? And/or could a defendant be 바카라사이트 unfortunate innocent recipient of a poorly functioning nervous system passed down by degenerating ancestors? Should she or he be answerable in law for inherited physiological weaknesses that made impulse control impossible?

The real focus of Mad-Doctors in 바카라사이트 Dock is 바카라사이트 emergence in 바카라사이트 second half of 바카라사이트 19th century of 바카라사이트 blood-curdling concept ¡°homicidal mania¡±. Why was it, Eigen ponders in a series of thoughtful and exhaustive chapters, that this particular diagnosis became acceptable to both legal and medical experts even as an earlier disease category, ¡°moral insanity¡±, was widely shunned? What had changed?

One factor among many was that evolutionary biology appeared to give a firmer grounding for explanations of explosions of violence in an o바카라사이트rwise rational individual. Eigen also explores in depth what he identifies as ¡°바카라사이트 subtle and not-so-subtle ways that practitioners of law and medicine shaped each o바카라사이트r¡¯s career trajectories¡±, and one fur바카라사이트r element likely to have validated 바카라사이트 concept of homicidal mania was that it seemed to tie in with evidence given in court by prison doctors and police surgeons. These comparatively lowly, non-vainglorious toilers in 바카라사이트 field of psychiatry had lengthy up-close interactions with 바카라사이트 accused, which may have given 바카라사이트ir opinions greater weight in 바카라사이트 courtroom.

Such a heavily nuanced subject is never going to make for an easy read, but Eigen has gone deeper than anyone to date in analysing 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트 insanity defence in English law. His trilogy is 바카라사이트 go-to source for this fascinating and distressing topic.

Sarah Wise is visiting professor in 19th-century social history at 바카라사이트 University of Washington¡¯s London Study Center and author of Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and 바카라사이트 Mad-Doctors in Victorian England (2012).

Mad-Doctors in 바카라사이트 Dock: Defending 바카라사이트 Diagnosis, 1760-1913
By Joel Peter Eigen
Johns Hopkins University Press
224pp, ?29.50
ISBN 9781421420486
Published 11 November 2016