New British Glory
01-05-2005, 17:46
I was doing some studying through my law notes and I re-discovered a very disturbing fact: according to English law, as set down by precedent, diabetics, epiletics and sleepwalkers are all legally classified as insane!
For those of you interested in the legal back story, read on. For those of you who aren't, I would advise you to go screaming into the air about some of the injustices of the English law.
The rules of insanity in English law are set down in the case of M'Naghten (1843), a case in which a madman attempted to kill the Prime Minister and instead killed his secretary. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity but, so incensed was public/political opinion, the Law Lords were summoned into the House of Commons to explain the rules of insanity. Hence the M'Naghten Rules were born, the major authority on the legal definition of insanity in the English law.
Of course the obvious and immediate criticism that must be made is that the rules are 162 years old and as such the law was not accomodated for the vast updates in the field of mental health that have occured over that time.
The phrase 'disease of the mind' forms the third M'Naghten rule - the defendant must be suffering a disease of the mind in order to claim the defence of insanity.
The judges have taken this phrase and have created the External Factor Theory, by which any mental disorder caused by an internal factor (such as epilepsy) is classified as insanity.
The case of Sullivan (1984) demonstrates the case for epileptics. The defendant suffered an epileptic fit and assaulted his elderly neighbour. It was ruled that epilepsy was an internal factor and as such could be ruled as insanity. This seems absurd considering that epilepsy is a common ailment for many.
In the case of diabetes, hyperglycaemia (the failure to take insulin) is also ruled to be an internal factor and as such a disease of the mind which further means the defendant is insane (see Hennessy 1981). This means that diabetes, a condition of the pancreas, makes those with it criminally insane.
In case of sleepwalking, once again it was ruled to be caused by internal factors (Burgess 1991). However most psychologists have argued that is can be caused by external factors such as stress and so once again seems particularly unfair.
For those of you interested in the legal back story, read on. For those of you who aren't, I would advise you to go screaming into the air about some of the injustices of the English law.
The rules of insanity in English law are set down in the case of M'Naghten (1843), a case in which a madman attempted to kill the Prime Minister and instead killed his secretary. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity but, so incensed was public/political opinion, the Law Lords were summoned into the House of Commons to explain the rules of insanity. Hence the M'Naghten Rules were born, the major authority on the legal definition of insanity in the English law.
Of course the obvious and immediate criticism that must be made is that the rules are 162 years old and as such the law was not accomodated for the vast updates in the field of mental health that have occured over that time.
The phrase 'disease of the mind' forms the third M'Naghten rule - the defendant must be suffering a disease of the mind in order to claim the defence of insanity.
The judges have taken this phrase and have created the External Factor Theory, by which any mental disorder caused by an internal factor (such as epilepsy) is classified as insanity.
The case of Sullivan (1984) demonstrates the case for epileptics. The defendant suffered an epileptic fit and assaulted his elderly neighbour. It was ruled that epilepsy was an internal factor and as such could be ruled as insanity. This seems absurd considering that epilepsy is a common ailment for many.
In the case of diabetes, hyperglycaemia (the failure to take insulin) is also ruled to be an internal factor and as such a disease of the mind which further means the defendant is insane (see Hennessy 1981). This means that diabetes, a condition of the pancreas, makes those with it criminally insane.
In case of sleepwalking, once again it was ruled to be caused by internal factors (Burgess 1991). However most psychologists have argued that is can be caused by external factors such as stress and so once again seems particularly unfair.