On November i, 1928, the Honorable Benjamin N. Cardozo, then the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of New York State, addressed the New York Academy of Medicine on What Medicine Can Do For Law. In this address he pointed to the unsatisfactory distinction in the law of homicide, between murder in the first and second degrees, especially the role which premeditation is supposed to play in distinguishing these two degrees of homicide. In regard to this he stated, present distinction is so obscure that no jury hearing it for the first time can fairly be expected to assimilate and understand it. I am not at all sure that I understand it myself after trying to apply it for many years and after diligent study of what has been written in the books. Upon the basis of this fine distinction with its obscure and mystifying psychology, scores of men have gone to their death. He also dwelt upon the law defining and governing mental irresponsibility, which is based in our state upon the formula adopted in M'Naghten's Case, and he referred to the principle that morbid propensity or irresistible impulse is not to be considered as a defense. Later in his talk he said, Everyone concedes that the present definition of insanity has little relation to the truths of mental life. In an attempt to see what could be done towards remedying these conditions the Bar Association of the City of New York appointed a committee. At the same time, upon request from the Bar Association, a committee was formed by the New York Academy of Medicine. Members of the faculty of the Columbia School of Law were also invited to participate in the conferences. The Carnegie Foundation provided funds to assist in this endeavor. These committees held a number of meetings but found that it was practically impossible at this time to bring about a change in the definition of legal responsibility in this state or upset the definition of premeditation, as laid down in the opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, or to change the attitude of the law regarding morbid propensity and irresistible impulse. The committees decided that to bring about changes of this kind meant a long peribd of education, not only of the legal profession but of the public as well. It was * A.M., MD. Attending Neurologist, The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City. Chairman, Committee on Medical Jurisprudence of the New York Academy of Medicine. Past President, the American Neurological Association and the Association for Research of Nervous and Mental Disease.