Criminal Lunatics Act 1800

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The Criminal Lunatics Act 1800 (39 & 40 Geo. 3, c. 94) was a British Act of Parliament that provided for the indefinite detention of mentally ill offenders.

Contents 1 Background 2 The Act 3 Repeal 4 Bibliography 5 External links

[edit] Background

Before 1800, juries were able to consider whether a defendant was insane. However, there was no fixed procedure for dealing with such findings. Though the defendant would be acquitted, he might be released, if he had relatives willing to take responsibility for his care and behaviour, or committed back to jail. In 1800, public outrage followed the acquittal and release, on the grounds of insanity, of James Hadfield for the attempted murder of King George III.

[edit] The Act

The Act provided:

That in all cases where it shall be given in evidence upon the trial of any person charged with treason, murder, or felony, that such person was insane at the time of the commission of such offence, and such person shall be acquitted, the jury shall be required to find specially whether such person was insane at the time of the commission of such offence, and to declare whether such person was acquitted by them on account of such insanity; and if they shall find that such person was insane at the time of the committing such offence, the court before whom such trial shall be had, shall order such person to be kept in strict custody, in such place and in such manner as to the court shall seem fit, until His Majesty's pleasure shall be known. ...

[edit] Repeal

The Act was repealed by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1981, Sch 1, Pt III. Detention of mentally ill offenders is now governed by the Mental Health Act 1983, ss.35-41 and 47-49.

[edit] Bibliography

• Beattie, J.M. (1986). Crime and the Courts in England 1660-1800. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820057-9. , p.84
• Walker, N. (1968). Crime and Insanity in England:The Historical Perspective. Vol. 1, Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-85224-017-1. , pp15–16.
• "The Insanity Defense before 1800" (1985). The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 477: 25.  at p.30
• The Law Commission (2003). Partial Defences to Murder (PDF), Consultation Paper No 173, London: TSO. , pp. 121-122.

[edit] External links

• Valerie Argent - Counter-Revolutionary Panic and the Treatment of the Insane: 1800