Insanity and the Law

Abstract

IN the law of contracts it is only necessary in order to make a valid bargain that a person have sufficient reason to understand the nature and effect of his act. He need not have average mental capacity. Mere weakness of mind or even defect bordering on imbecility is not in itself necessarily sufficient to make an agreement voidable. In the law of wills testamentary disposition of property can be effected by one mentally unsound if at the moment of making his last will he has what in law is considered a sound disposing mind, in that he is able to comprehend and appreciate without prompting the kind and extent of his property, the disposition to be made of it by the testament, the persons who are the natural objects of his bounty and affection and the significance and effect of his testamentary act. In cases of torts where a person inflicts a civil injury and damage upon another through a legally wrongful act, not amounting to a criminal act insanity is no excuse in law. Insane persons are held responsible for damages resulting from their tortious actions. In criminal law insanity is a disease or defect of the mind which renders an individual incapable of entertaining a criminal intent. In this paper consideration will be limited to insanity as it relates to the criminal law. In medicine insanity is a disease or a disorder of the mind which definitely affects a person's mental processes, thoughts, ideas, judgment and behavior, rendering him incapable of properly looking after himself and his interests and making him a menace to himself and to the community, in such measure as to justify a physician in committing him to an indefinite stay in a mental hospital. Insanity as a disease syndrome must be studied from every angle. Personal, medical, family, social, school and occupational histories, the condition of the physical machine, the symptoms, the pathological conditions and the reactions of the individual to the underlying disease and to his environment must be carefully scrutinized and weighed. Like tuberculosis or toxicology, it is a problem for the medical mind, trained to consider numerous facts, large groups of interdependent factors and the probabilities in each case in the light of past experience. Insanity can be understood only by an intensive and persistent study of the insane individual himself. Careful and exhaustive study of medical books alone will not give one a real understanding of insanity. Law books and treatises, decisions and opinions as to what insanity is or should be will not shed substantial light upon the real nature of the condition. Disease and poisons affect the intricate brain functions. The tune produced by alcohol, opium, cocaine or any other chemical agent introduced from without, playing on the strings of this