9. Mental conditions, intoxication and mistake

2021 ◽  
pp. 292-358
Author(s):  
David Ormerod ◽  
Karl Laird

This chapter considers the most commonly occurring ‘mental condition defences’, focusing on the pleas of insanity, intoxication and mistake. The common law historically made a distinction between justification and excuse, at least in relation to homicide. It is said that justification relates to the rightness of the act but to excuse as to the circumstances of the individual actor. The chapter examines the relationship between mental condition defences, insanity and unfitness to be tried, and explains the Law Commission’s most recent recommendations for reforming unfitness and other mental condition defences. It explores the test of insanity, disease of the mind (insanity) versus external factor (sane automatism), insane delusions and insanity, burden of proof, function of the jury, self-induced automatism, intoxication as a denial of criminal responsibility, voluntary and involuntary intoxication, dangerous or non-dangerous drugs in basic intent crime and intoxication induced with the intention of committing crime.

Author(s):  
David Ormerod ◽  
Karl Laird

This chapter considers the most commonly occurring ‘mental condition defences’, focusing on the pleas of insanity, intoxication, and mistake. The common law historically made a distinction between justification and excuse, at least in relation to homicide. It is said that justification relates to the rightness of the act but excuse to the circumstances of the individual actor. The chapter examines the relationship between mental condition defences, insanity, and unfitness to be tried, and explains the Law Commission’s most recent recommendations for reforming unfitness and other mental condition defences. It explores the test of insanity, disease of the mind (insanity) versus external factor (sane automatism), insane delusions and insanity, burden of proof, function of the jury, self-induced automatism, intoxication as a denial of criminal responsibility, voluntary and involuntary intoxication, dangerous or non-dangerous drugs in basic intent crime, and intoxication induced with the intention of committing crime.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-460
Author(s):  
Douglas E. Edlin

This article develops some conceptual correlations between Kant’s theory of aesthetic judgment and the common law tradition of legal judgment. The article argues that legal judgment, like aesthetic judgment, is best conceived in terms of intersubjective validity rather than objective truth. Understanding the parallel between aesthetic and legal judgment allows us to appreciate better the relationship between subjectivity and intersubjectivity, the individual and the community, in the formulation and communication of judgments, which combine a personal response and a reasoned determination intended for a discrete audience. The article frames and pursues these themes in relation to four core concepts in Kant’s aesthetic theory: judgment, communication, community, and disinterestedness. Through sustained comparison and application of these concepts in aesthetic judgment and legal judgment, the article provides a conception of judging that more accurately captures the common law role and relationship of the individual judge and the institutional judiciary as integral parts of the broader legal and political community.


1896 ◽  
Vol 42 (178) ◽  
pp. 668-683
Author(s):  
W. Orange

In the case of a person who is charged with an indictable offence, and who is alleged to be insane, the first question that presents itself for consideration is whether such accused person is, or is not, in a fit mental condition to be called upon to plead to the indictment, and to take his trial; for, according to the common law of England, as stated by Blackstone, in his Commentaries (Book 4, Chap. II): “If a man in his sound memory commits a capital offence, and before arraignment for it, he becomes mad, he ought not to be arraigned for it; because he is not able to plead to it with that advice and caution that he ought.” and this general principle of the common law was set out more fully in a statute passed in the year 1800 (39 and 40 Geo. III., cap. 94), by which it was enacted that “If any person indicted for any offence shall be insane, and shall, upon arraignment, be found so to be by a jury lawfully impanelled for that purpose, so that such person cannot be tried upon such indictment,” … “it shall be lawful for the Court before whom any such person shall be brought to be arraigned, or tried as aforesaid, to direct such finding to be recorded, and thereupon to order such person to be kept in strict custody until His Majesty's pleasure shall be known.”


ICL Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-211
Author(s):  
Nadia E Nedzel

Abstract The Rule of Law and economic development are widely regarded as necessary for a successful society, but defining the international rule of law and explaining the relationship with economic development has proven elusive. This article begins with explanations posited by Hayek and others, but brings a fresh perspective grounded in a multidisciplinary and contextual approach that includes history, philosophy, economics, and law. Properly defined, the rule of law refers to a specific understanding of the relationship between the individual and government. The common law conception of the rule of law (as opposed to the civilian Rechtsstaat or L’État de Droit) is historically more supportive of economic development, but modern international descriptions and definitions confuse the two. Based on empirical economic studies and historical legal anthropology, the common law understanding focused on limited government and individual freedom from interference has proven more likely to encourage entrepreneurship and hence economic development on a long-term basis.


Author(s):  
Justine Pila

This chapter considers the meaning of the terms that appropriately denote the subject matter protectable by registered trade mark and allied rights, including the common law action of passing off. Drawing on the earlier analyses of the objects protectable by patent and copyright, it defines the trade mark, designation of origin, and geographical indication in their current European and UK conception as hybrid inventions/works in the form of purpose-limited expressive objects. It also considers the relationship between the different requirements for trade mark and allied rights protection, and related principles of entitlement. In its conclusion, the legal understandings of trade mark and allied rights subject matter are presented as answers to the questions identified in Chapter 3 concerning the categories and essential properties of the subject matter in question, their method of individuation, and the relationship between and method of establishing their and their tokens’ existence.


1995 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-564
Author(s):  
Dawn Oliver

First, I want to express my gratitude and sense of honour in being invited to deliver the Lionel Cohen lecture for 1995. The relationship between the Israeli and the British legal systems is a close and mutually beneficial one, and we in Britain in particular owe large debts to the legal community in Israel. This is especially the case in my field, public law, where distinguished academics have enriched our academic literature, notably Justice Zamir, whose work on the declaratory judgment has been so influential. Israeli courts, too, have made major contributions to the development of the common law generally and judicial review very notably.In this lecture I want to discuss the process of constitutional reform in the United Kingdom, and to explore some of the difficulties that lie in the way of reform. Some quite radical reforms to our system of government — the introduction of executive agencies in the British civil service, for instance—have been introduced without resort to legislation. There has been a spate of reform to local government and the National Health Service.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S588-S588
Author(s):  
M. Mezghani ◽  
F. Fekih-Romdhane ◽  
F. El Ghali ◽  
M. Zghal ◽  
G. Jmii ◽  
...  

IntroductionIncest may be defined as sexual relations between close blood relatives. Legally, incest and sexual aggression toward minors are classified as a criminal behaviour. Tunisia is among the countries from which incest cases are rarely reported.Objectives and methodThe aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the psychotic structure and incest, and to describe the individual, clinical, and criminal traits of the incestuous father through clinical observation.Case reportMr T.G is 46 years old. He is married and has six daughters. His wife appears to be passive, and largely dependent on her husband. Mr T.G has had incestuous relationships, initially, with his two eldest daughters. The acts were followed by the mother's complicit silence and the non-denunciation of the daughters. Two years later, he starts an incestuous behavior with his third daughter. Incest took place in the context of delusion. The patient was convinced that he is responsible of his daughters’ sexuality education. He develops an incoherent theory of purification with a tendency towards morbid rationalism. It is only after four years of insufferable paternal incestuous relationships that the third daughter filed a complaint to the police. A psychiatric expertise concluded that the accused is exempt from criminal responsibility.ConclusionIncest is a multi-faceted phenomenon, which makes its approach, comprehension, and treatment quite complex. For a psychotic patient incest is a means to deny alterity by crushing other. It also allows him to find, in this complete power, control over his annihilation anxiety.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


Author(s):  
Lisa Waddington

This chapter explores the relationship between disability quota schemes and non-discrimination law in Europe. While at first sight they seem to sit uneasily beside each other, the chapter reveals how, in some instances, quota schemes can serve to facilitate compliance with non-discrimination legislation. At the same time, the chapter explores seeming incompatibilities between the two approaches and considers whether there are differences between common and civil law jurisdictions in this respect. Tentative conclusions suggest that there is a greater willingness to establish quota schemes through legislation in civil law jurisdictions compared to common law jurisdictions, and that quota schemes in civil law jurisdictions are more likely to provide for the imposition of a levy in the case that employers fail to meet their quota obligations through employing the required number of people with disabilities. There also seems to be some indication that there is greater awareness of the potential for conflict or tension, in various forms, between non-discrimination law and quota schemes in common law jurisdictions than in civil law jurisdictions. Finally, the two schemes operating in the common law states are only applicable to the public sector—whilst in civil law states quotas are generally applied to both public and private sector employers. This may indicate different perceptions regarding the role of public sector employers and the legitimacy of imposing quota requirements.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
JE Penner

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter traces the historical roots of the trust. The law of trusts is the offspring of a certain English legal creature known as ‘equity’. Equity arose out of the administrative power of the medieval Chancellor, who was at the time the King’s most powerful minister. The nature of equity’s jurisdiction and its ability to provide remedies unavailable at common law, the relationship between equity and the common law and the ‘fusion’ of law and equity, and equity’s creation of the use, and then the trust, are discussed.


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