Failures of the M’Naghten Rules: Women and the Insanity Defence in Victorian England

Abstract

This paper examines the medicolegal insanity defence in criminal trials in Victorian England. It analyzes the test for criminal liability embodied in a set of rules called the M’Naghten rules that followed the trial and acquittal of Daniel M’Naghten in 1843. The paper examines the difficulties in upholding the rules in criminal case law in the middle decades of the 19th century. The research question that will be addressed is: what role did gender play when determining the mental condition of the accused in Victorian society? Moreover, how did gender affect the treatment and the punishment of mentally ill individuals who had been convicted of crimes, and how did the stigma of mental illness shape treatment and punishment? Rather than being labelled as insane, people suffering from mental illnesses were sometimes given the titles "missing," "absent," and "unconscious." What happened to those who did not meet the legal criteria to be tried as mentally insane? Finally, what difficulties did the courts and testifying physicians face while interpreting criminal responsibility? The paper will investigate key legal cases and trial narratives in several Victorian novels to draw conclusions about the cultural history of the insanity defence.