ous to establish the insanity of the criminal; that such knowledge is beyond the circuit of

were he to do so, he would occasionally be sadly deceived. He should never forget that he has a public as well as a professional duty to discharge; and he is bound, as a citizen of the state, as well as a member of an important and learned section of society, to protect himself from the possibility of being deceived as to the facts of any given case presented to him for his opinion. He must not permit his feelings to overpower and interfere with the free and unclouded operations of his judgment.

our attainment. It is sufficient for the medical practitioner to know that the person's mind is deranged, and that such a state of insanity will be sufficient to account for the irregularity of his actions; and that in a sound mind the same conduct would be deemed criminal. If violence be inflicted by such a person during a paroxysm of rage, there is no acuteness of metaphysical investigation which can trace the succession of thoughts, and the impulses by which he is goaded. for the accomplishment of his purpose.'

from which we select the following:-A patient had been subjected to the most cruel treatment by the person who had the care of him, and the murder of the keeper is thus narrated by the lunatic himself:—

"Under these circumstances, every possible influence will occassionally be exercised to induce the witness to adopt an opinion favour-markable instances of insanity are stated, In the course of the lecture, several reable to the prisoner. He will perceive the necessity of patiently investigating the case itself, and will not be satisfied with one or two interviews with the alleged lunatic. He must obtain from the criminal an account of the act with which he may be charged, and his reasons for committing it; he will also acquire from his relatives, friends, and companions, an insight into his former mode of life-his habits of thought his prior state-the peculiarities of his disposition-whether there exists in the case an hereditary predisposition to insanity; and other circumstances likely to elucidate the actual state of the mind at the time when the alleged offence was perpetrated. Great perseverence and ingenuity are often required be

fore the truth can be elicited."

We shall conclude this part of the subject, by Dr. Winslow's advice to his Professional brethren :

"In criminal cases, should the witness be interrogated as to the alleged lunatic's consciousness of right and wrong, or as to his knowledge that he was violating the law of God and man at the moment when the crime was committed, I would strongly suggest that he should, unless the case be one of obvious lunacy, decline answering the question. The witness may have a clear and positive opinion as to the existence of insanity; but how can he, in every case, solve the question as to the lunatic's ability to distinguish accurately between good and evil, right and wrong, lawful and unlawful? Dr. Haslam says, when alluding to this point, that 'It is not the province of the medical witness to pronounce an opinion as to the prisoner's capability of distinguishing right from wrong. It is the duty of the medical man, when called upon to give evidence in a Court of Law, to state whether he considers insanity to be present in any given case, not to ascertain the quantity of reason which the person imputed to be insane, may or may not possess. If it should be presumed that any medical practitioner is able to penetrate into the recesses of a lunatic's mind at the moment he committed the outrage; to view the internal play of obtruding thoughts and contending motives; and to depose that he knew the good and evil, right and wrong, he was about to commit,-it must be confessed,

"The man (he said) whom I stabbed richly deserved it. He behaved to me with great violence and cruelty; he degraded my nature as a human being; he tied me down, handcuffed me, and confined my hands much higher than my head with a leathern thong; he stretched me on the bed of torture; after some days he released me. I gave him warning, for I told his wife I would have justice of him. On her communicating this to him, he came to me in à furious passion, threw me down, dragged me through the court-yard, thumped me on the breast, and confined me in a dark and damp cell. Not liking this situation, I was induced to play the hypocrite. I pretended extreme sorrow for having threatened him, and by an affectation of repentance, prevailed on him to release me. For several days I paid him great attention, and lent him every assistance. He seemed much pleased with the flattery, and became very friendly in his behaviour towards me. Going one day into the kitchen, where his wife was busied, I saw a knife; this was too great a temptation to be resisted; I concealed it about my person, and carried it with me. For some time afterwards the same friendly intercourse was maintained between us; but as he was one day unlocking his garden-door, I seized the opportunity, and plunged the knife up to the hilt in his back. He al ways mentioned this circumstance with peculiar triumph, and his countenance, a most cunning and malignant one, became highly animated at the conclusion of the story."

for the murder of his daughter-the followOn the trial of a prisoner in Philadelphia ing facts were disclosed :

"Eighteen years previously to the commission of the crime, a confectioner of the name of Wood had come from England; had carried on his trade first in New York, and then in Philadelphia; had realised money, and acquired a respectable character. He had an only daughter, whom he was desirous of advancing into a higher station by marriage. But he him

Medico-Legal Evidence.

66

445

Bernard Schedmaizig suddenly awoke at midnight; at the moment he saw a frightful phantom, or what his imagination represented as such-a fearful spectacle. He twice called out, Who is that!' He received no answer. Imagining that the phantom was advancing upon him, and having altogether lost his selfpossession, he raised a hatchet which was beside him, and attacked the spectre: it was found that he had murdered his wife!

self was not in genteel society; yet he re- drowned.' It was maintained that the suicide strained her from associating with persons of was the result of certain mental impressions her own condition; and she therefore had no conjured up in the mind during a dream. Dr. freedom in any circle. She assisted him in Pagan refers to the following interesting case, keeping his shop, one of the first of its kind to prove that murder may be committed by a in Philadelphia. A young man of inferior person when under the effects of a frightful habits and station made love to her, and per- vision. suaded her to leave her father's roof and marry him. She was absent only one night, when she returned home, and confessed she was a married woman. Her father became violently and passionately excited; he drank a large quantity of rum; and, under the combined influence of disappointed ambition, rage, and intoxication, he shot his daughter with a pistol. He did not not attempt to escape. When he became sober and free from excitement, he had no knowledge of his crime. He was tried for the murder. His counsel pleaded insanity, and proved previous mental aberration; but, in his defence, he mainly relied on the shock given to his feelings by his daughter's conduct having produced a real insanity preceding the homicide. A verdict of lunacy was recorded. If this case had occurred in England, it is questionable whether he would have been acquitted."

"A pedler, who was in the habit of walking about the country armed with a swordstick was awakened one evening, while laying asleep on the high road, by a man suddenly seizing him, and shaking him by the shoulders. The man, who was walking by with some companions, had done this out of a joke. The pedler suddenly woke, drew his sword, and stabbed the man, who soon afterwards died. He was tried for manslaughter. His irresponsibility was strongly urged by his counsel, on the ground that he could not have been conscious of his act in the half-waking state. This was strengthened by the opinions of medical witnesses. He was, however, found guilty. The murder, in this instance, may have been the result of passion. We have no evidence to the contrary."

In conclusion, we may cite the following judicial criteria of insanity, which were propounded on the trial of Bellingham for the murder of Mr. Perceval. Lord Chief Justice Mansfield said,—

"A lunatic has been known to commit murder in a fit of frenzy, his sudden arrest and committal to prison temporarily restoring the mind to its healthy balance. A man has been guilty of a capital crime; has been seized and sent to prison, and has, from remorse, or a sense of horror at his position, suddenly become insane; his derangement only exhibiting itself after his arrest. Persons have been known "The law is extremely clear. If a man was to commit the crime of murder whilst in a deprived of all power of reasoning, so as not to state of somnambulism, and also during that be able to distinguish whether it was right or half-unconscious condition between sleeping wrong to commit the most wicked or the most and waking. Cases of this description are ex- innocent transaction, he could not certainly tremely perplexing to medical jurists. If it can commit an act against the law. Such a man, be satisfactorily proved that the person per- so destitute of all power of judgment, could petrated the murder whilst in this state-if the have no intention at all. In order to support fact be unequivocally established-then, I con- this defence, however, it ought to be proved by ceive, it ought to be considered as a good ex- the most distinct and unquestionable evidence culpating plea. It should never, however, be that the criminal was incapable of judging beforgotten, that these cases are easily simulated. tween right or wrong. It must in fact be Examples of this character are recorded by proved, beyond all doubt, that at the time he medical writers. A person has been suddenly committed the atrocious act with which he roused by a frightful dream, and, whilst under stood charged, he did not consider murder was its influence, has been known to take away a crime against the laws of God and nature. human life. Suicide has been committed There was no other proof of insanity which under analogous circumstances. A person, ap- could excuse murder or any other crime. parently well, has gone to bed without mani- There were various species of insanity. Some festing the slightest tendency to self-destruc- human creatures were void of all power of reation; he was awoke suddenly and destroyed soning from their birth; such could not be himself. A case, illustrative of this fact, is on guilty of any crime. There was another sperecord. It is as follows:-'An old lady resid- cies of madness, in which persons were subject ing in London awoke in the middle of the to temporary paroxysms, in which they were night, went down stairs, and threw herself guilty of acts of extravagance; this was called into a cistern of water, where she was found lunacy. If these persons committed a crime

446

CLERKSHIP.

On assigning the residue of the term of my articles, is it necessary that the same person should witness the execution of the assignmet by all parties, or will it be sufficient if one affidavit shows the execution by the first attorney, and a separate affidavit by another person of the execution by the second attorney and the clerk.

T.

[We have no doubt that separate affidavits will be sufficient.-ED.]

Law of Attorneys.-Aggregate Meeting of Solicitors at Leeds.-Correspondence. when they were not affected with the malady, SEPARATE ATTESTATIONS OF ARTICLES OF they were, to all intents and purposes, amenable to justice. So long as they could distinguish good from evil, so long would they be answerable for their conduct. There was a third species of insanity, in which the patient fancied the existence of injury and sought an opportunity of gratifying revenge by some hostile act. If such a person was capable, in other respects, of distinguishing right from wrong, there was no excuse for any act of atrocity which he might commit under this description of derangement. The witnesses who had been called to support this extraordinary defence had given a very singular account, in order to show that at the time of the commission of the crime the prisoner was insane. What might have been the state of his mind some time ago was perfectly immaterial. The single question was, whether at the time this act was committed, he possessed a sufficient degree of understanding to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong, and whether murder was a crime not only against the laws of God, but the law of his country."

LAW OF ATTORNEYS.

RENEWAL OF ANNUAL CERTIFICATE.

I was admitted in 1822, and practised until the year ending in November, 1849, when I discontinued in consequence of ill health. Must I undergo another examination before being permitted to renew my certificate?

F.

[We think no examination will be required. There is no instance of such examination, where the attorney has practised several years, and has ceased only during the last five years. -ED.]

TOWN OR COUNTRY CERTIFICATE DUTY.

AGGREGATE MEETING OF SOLICI
TORS AT LEEDS.

YORKSHIRE LAW SOCIETY.

AT a Meeting of the Committeee of Manage. ment, held at the Law Library, Minster Gates, York, on Monday, the 18th of September ult., Henry Newton, Esq., the President, in the Chair, it was resolved :

That a Deputation be appointed to attend the Aggregate Meeting of Solicitors, to be held at Leeds, on the 18th October next, and that such deputation consist of Henry Newton, Esq., the President of this Society, the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor (George Leeman, Esq.), the Vice-President, Mr. Alderman Seymour, Mr. Alderman Richardson, the Undersheriffs of the County and City of York (William Gray, Esq., and E. R. Anderson, Esq.), James Richardson, Esq., and Thomas Hodgson, Esq., the Secretary of this Society.

SELECTIONS FROM CORRE-
SPONDENCE.

By the 53 Geo. 3, c. 184, the certificate duty LAWYERS' HALF-HOLIDAY. payable by every solicitor residing within the limits of the twopenny-post in England was 127. SIR,-A short time since you told your By the recent Act of the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 63, readers, that 300 of the most eminent solicitors the certificate duty payable by a solicitor, if in London, had memorialised the Incorporated he shall reside within the distance of 10 miles Law Society to take steps, to secure to them from the General Post-office in the city of and their clerks, the advantages accruing from London, is to be 91., and if he shall reside the Saturday half-holiday movement; and that elsewhere it is to be 61. My place of business this Society in compliance with their request, is within 10 miles of London, but more than had applied to the Lord Chancellor, that his 10 miles from the General Post-office. To order might be obtained, to close the Law which rate of duty shall I be liable under the present Act.

B.

[It appears clear that the lesser duty of 61. will be sufficient, if the attorney does not practice within the 10 miles for more than 40 days in the year. The usual place of business being beyond 10 miles, we presume the attorney will not be liable to a penalty for occasionally transacting business within the 10 miles.ED.]

Offices at two o'clock on that day. Unfortu nately the application was not made till the commencement of Vacation: another term must commence before the required order can be made.

Under these circumstances, your readers will hear with pleasure, that some solicitors, relying on the favourable opinion expressed by the the Vacation, have anticipated the order and Judges, and taking advantage of the leisure of commenced giving the half-holiday.

S.

Selections from Correspondence.-List of Public General Acts.

COMMON LAW PROCEDURE ACT.

In an ordinary running down case, will it be open to the plaintiff to bring an action for a mandamus, under the new Common Law Procedure Act, to obtain a specific reparation of the injury done to the defendant's barge, ship, &c., instead of an action for damages in the usual way?

of Assessed Taxes; and to authorise Justices of the Peace in Ireland to administer Oaths required in Matters relating to Income Tax.

2. An act to supply the Sum of 8,000,000%. out of the Consolidated Fund to the Service of the year 1854.

3. An act for raising the Sum of 1,750,000%. by Exchequer Bills, for the Service of the year

19. An act for facilitating the Payment of her Majesty's Navy, and the Payment and Distribution of Prize, Bounty, Salvage, and other Monies to and amongst the Officers and LIST OF PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS. War; and for the better Regulation of the AcCrews of her Majesty's Ships and Vessels of

CAP. 1. An act to explain and amend an Act of the last Session relating to the Duties

List of Public General Acts-17 & 18 Vict.

chapter 21; and for making Provision for the 40. An act to continue an Act of the last Appointment and for Remuneration of a Sti- Session of Parliament, for extending for a pendiary Justice for the Division of Manches- limited time the Provision for Abatement ter in the County of Lancaster, and of Clerks of Income Tax in respect of Insurance on to such Justices and the Justices for the Borough of Salford; and for other purposes. 21. An act to apply the Sum of 8,000,000l. out of the Consolidated Fund to the Service of the year 1854.