Witnessing Insanity

Download or read book Witnessing Insanity written by Joel Peter Eigen and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This intriguing book by Joel Eigen is the first systematic investigation of the evolution of medical testimony in British insanity trials from its beginnings in 1760 to 1843, when the Insanity Rules were formulated during the trial of Daniel McNaughtan. Based on verbatim testimony of courtroom participants - the ordinary as well as the notorious - the book shows how the conception of madness changed over time, how ambitious defense attorneys began to make use of medical opinion on madness, how the self-proclaimed specialists distanced themselves from lay witnesses, and how defendants offered the court a glimpse of madness "from the inside."