IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v1y2011i3p2158244011431738.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Narrow Definition of Insanity Opined by Medical Experts in the Oliver Smith Will Case in 1847

Author

Listed:
  • Jeremia Heinik
  • Kenneth I. Shulman

Abstract

Physicians specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of insane people (alienists) emerged in the early 19th century and offered their expertise for the courts to consider in judgments of mental competence. In the Oliver Smith will case (1847), the competency of an attesting witness was contested on the issue of insanity. Four well-known alienists testified at trial. Although the insanity of the witness could have been viewed in broader terms, the experts used a narrow definition of insanity based primarily on the presence of delusions. These opinions were only partially consistent with contemporaneous medical notions of insanity and the broad definition of criminal responsibility. We suggest three explanatory factors for the narrow definition related to available medical knowledge, courtroom restrictions including the case itself, and mid-19th-century relationships between mental medicine and the law.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremia Heinik & Kenneth I. Shulman, 2011. "A Narrow Definition of Insanity Opined by Medical Experts in the Oliver Smith Will Case in 1847," SAGE Open, , vol. 1(3), pages 21582440114, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:1:y:2011:i:3:p:2158244011431738
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244011431738
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244011431738
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244011431738?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:1:y:2011:i:3:p:2158244011431738. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.