Sometimes the madman conceals his disease, and with such remark able cunning and dissimulation that the detection of it is very difficult: this is more particularly the awe when the insanity consists in some hallucination ; and here, unless the nature of the delusion be known, it will often be in vain to attempt to elucidate by questions any proof of unsoundness of mind. Those who are insane on particular subjects will reason correctly on ordinary and trivial points, provided these do not become associated with the prevailing notions which constitute their disease..
When insanity is urged as the ground of non-responsibility for a criminal act, it has been erroneously held that the main point to be ascertained is, whether the individual has or had "a sense of good and evil," " of right and wrong." But this, though the doctrine of the Esfglish law, is found incapable of practical application ; and the records of trials of this kind show that the guide to the decision has generally been the proof, or absence of proof, that insanity of some kind existed at the time of the act, although before and after it the power of reasoning and the knowledge of right and wrong might be retained. Thus, on the trial of Hatfield for shooting at George III., Erskine argued that the existence of a delusion in the mind absolves from criminal responsibility, if it be shown that the delusion and criminal act were connected ; and on this principle Hatfield was 'acquitted, but confined for life. Bellingham, however, who shot Mr. Perceval under an equally powerful delusion, in consequence of the greater excitement in the public mind occasioned by the result of tho insane act, was convicted and executed. In many instances homicide has been prompted, not by any insane hallucination or delusion, but by a morbid impulse to kill. Here there is generally evidence of the feel ings and propensities of the individual having been previously dis ordered; of his being, in fact, the subject of moral insanity [Imams], and judgment in such cases is aided by the absence of motive to the act.
A lunatic is, according to law, responsible for acts committed during " lucid intervals," a term by which is understood, however, not mere remissions of the violence of the disease, but periods during which the mind resumes its perfectly sane conditions. In forming an opinion concerning such lucid intervals, it is to be remembered that the ab sence of the signs of insanity must have considerable duration before it can be thence concluded that the mind is perfectly sane ; and that lunatics, when apparently convalescent, are subject to sudden and violent paroxysms.
One of the most difficult points to be determined is with regard to the mental capacity of old persons, in whom the mind is confessedly impaired. The decay of intellect iu old age is first manifested iu the loss of memory of persons, things, and dates, and particularly with respect to recent impressions. But it is not the mere liability to forget names, &c., which will render the will of an old person invalid ; it should be shown that in conversation about his affairs, and his friends and relations, he did not evince sufficient knowledge of both to dispose of the former with sound and untrammelled judgment. Many old men appear stupid and forgetful, but when their attention is fairly fixed on their property, business, and family affairs, they understand them perfectly, and display sagacity in their remarks.
The care and custody of idiots and lunatics form a branch of the royal prerogative, and were formerly administered by the king himself. Since the dissolution of the Court of Wards, the lord chancellor has been specially appointed to exercise this power. [CusxentLon.] The method of proving a person to be of unsound mind, for the purpose of depriving him of the control of his property, and, where the circum stances require it, providing for the safe custody of his person, was formerly as follows. The lord chancellor, upon petition supported by affidavits, and in some cases upon a personal interview also with the alleged lunatic, when such a course seemed necessary, granted a com mission to inquire into the state of mind of the party, and if the jury found him to be lunatic, or of unsound mind (one of which modes of finding was absolutely necessary), the care of his person was committed to some relation or other fit person with a suitable allowance for main tenance, who was called the committee of the person ; and the care of the estate was committed either to the same or some other person, who was called the committee of the estate. [GUARDIAN.] The committee of the estate was considered as a mere bailiff appointed by the crown for the sole interest of the owner, and without auy regard. to his successors ; but the court might order allowances to be made to near relations of the party of unsound mind, and even to his natural child, where the circumstances of the several parties justified and required it, and would direct proper acts to be done in the management of the estate, as repair of buildings, felling of timber which was deteriorat ing, &e.