Daniel M'Naghten (pronounced, and sometimes spelled, McNaughton) (1813 – 1865) was a Scottish woodturner who assassinated English civil servant Edward Drummond while suffering from paranoid delusions. Through his trial and its aftermath, he has given his name to a legal test of insanity in the UK and other common law jurisdictions (see M'Naghten Rules).^[1] The MNaghten Rules are used to establish insanity as an excuse to potential criminal liability, but the definitional criteria establish insanity in the legal and not the psychological sense. ... Year 1813 (MDCCCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... This article is about the country. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Assassin and Assassins redirect here. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Byzantine civil service in action. ... Edward Drummond (1792–25 April 1843) was a civil servant and Personal Secretary to Robert Peel, the British Prime Minister. ... For other senses of this word, see paranoia (disambiguation). ... A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception. ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... The MNaghten Rules are used to establish insanity as an excuse to potential criminal liability, but the definitional criteria establish insanity in the legal and not the psychological sense. ...

Life

A one-time actor and medical student,^[1] M'Naghten was, by typical accounts, a textbook example of insanity. M'Naghten believed that he was the victim of an international conspiracy, involving the Pope and the British Tory government. On January 20, 1843, M'Naghten saw a man from the rear approaching Downing Street, and fired a single shot into his victim's back. The figure turned out to be Peel's secretary, Edward Drummond, who then walked to his family's banking house nearby. Despite medical attention, Drummond died five days later.^[1] Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Medical school generally refers to a tertiary educational institution (or part of such an institution) which is involved in the education of future medical practitioners (medical doctors). ... In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. ... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches. ... For other uses, see Tory (disambiguation). ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1843 (MDCCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Downing Street Downing Street gates Downing Street is the street in London which contains the buildings that have been, for over two hundred years, the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers, the First Lord of the Treasury, an office held by the Prime Minister of... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ... Medicine is the science and art of maintaining andor restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. ...

Defended by one of London's best-known barristers, Alexander Cockburn, M'Naghten was found "not guilty by reason of insanity" in a jury trial, an acquittal that caused public unrest.^[1] At the trial, Cockburn had made extensive and effective use of Isaac Ray's Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity. Cockburn quoted extensively from the book which rejected traditional views of the insanity defence based on the defendant's ability to distinguish "right from wrong" in favour of a broader approach based on causation.^[2][3][4] This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... // Artists impression of an English and Irish barrister A barrister is a lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions which employ a split profession (as opposed to a fused profession) in relation to legal representation. ... Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn, 12th Baronet (December 24, 1802 - November 20, 1880) was Lord Chief Justice of England. ... In a criminal trial, the insanity defenses are possible defenses by excuse, via which defendants may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as they were mentally ill at the time of their allegedly criminal actions. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Jury. ... In criminal law, an acquittal is the legal result of a verdict of not guilty, or some similar end of the proceeding that terminates it with prejudice without a verdict of guilty being entered against the accused. ... Isaac Ray, M.D. (From Images from the History of Medicine, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine). ... In a criminal trial, the insanity defenses are possible defenses by excuse, via which defendants may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as they were mentally ill at the time of their allegedly criminal actions. ... This article is about causality as it is used in many different fields. ...

Although acquitted of murder, the finding of insanity meant M'Naghten was forcibly institutionalized for the remainder of his life under the Criminal Lunatics Act 1800. He was initially remanded at Bethlem Royal Hospital, where he stayed for 20 years before being transferred to the Broadmoor Institution for the Criminally Insane. He died at Broadmoor in 1865.^[1] A psychiatric hospital (also called, at various places and times, mental hospital or mental ward, historically often asylum, lunatic asylum, or madhouse), is a hospital specialising in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ... The Criminal Lunatics Act 1800 (39 & 40 Geo. ... The Bethlem Royal Hospital of London, which has been variously known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlem Hospital, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is the worlds oldest psychiatric hospital. ... Broadmoor Hospital is a highly secure psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the English county of Berkshire. ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ...

Historical sources vary as to the correct spelling of M'Naghten's name with original court documents and hospital records supporting "McNaughton". His signature supports a variety of hypothetical spellings, and in the manifold legal writings on the case, it is not uncommon to see McNaghten, M'Naughten, McNaughton, or some other variant.^{[citation needed]}

Alternative theories

A more recent theory as to M'Naghten's motives has arisen from evidence of his political activism. M'Naghten spent the two years prior to the assassination travelling around England and France, at the same time amassing £750 in his bank account, and prominent Chartist agitator Abram Duncan worked in his workshop in 1835. Further, M'Naghten's library ticket from the Glasgow Mecahnics' Institute showed that the former actor and medical student had been reading about insanity. It has been suggested that M'Naghten was financed to assassinate Peel for political reasons, feigning insanity to avoid capital punishment.^[1] Activism, in a general sense, can be described as involvement in action to bring about change, be it social, political, environmental, or other change. ... A movement for social and political reform in the United Kingdom during the mid_19th century, Chartism gains its name from the Peoples Charter of 1838, which set out the main aims of the movement. ... | Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ...

Significance

Queen Victoria requested that M'Naghten's case be retried by the House of Lords. They then called on twelve judges of the common law courts, including Lord Chief Justice Tindal, to answer a series of questions regarding the law of insanity. From that discourse, the panel concluded that for insanity to apply as a defence, the defendant must either not know the nature of his act or not know that the act is wrong.^[1] Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 May 1876, until her death on 22 January 1901. ... The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as the Lords. The Sovereign, the House of Commons (which is the lower house of Parliament and referred to as the Commons), and the Lords together comprise the Parliament. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... Statue of Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, Tindal Square Chelmsford. ...

This formulation of the insanity requirement is known as the M'Naghten Rules. The M'Naghten rules became the basic test of insanity in England and were adopted by America and many countries throughout the British Commonwealth. The M'Naghten rules were employed with almost no modification by American courts and legislatures for more than 100 years, until the mid-20th century. In 1998, 25 states plus the District of Columbia still used versions of the M'Naghten rule to test for legal insanity.^{[citation needed]} The MNaghten Rules are used to establish insanity as an excuse to potential criminal liability, but the definitional criteria establish insanity in the legal and not the psychological sense. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... The Commonwealth of Nations as of 2006 Headquarters Marlborough House, London, UK Official languages English Membership 53 sovereign states Leaders  -  Queen Elizabeth II  -  Secretary-General Don McKinnon (since 1 April 2000) Establishment  -  Balfour Declaration 18 November 1926   -  Statute of Westminster 11 December 1931   -  London Declaration 28 April 1949  Area  -  Total... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  Politics Portal      A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the... For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ...

References

Bibliography

• Bucknill, J. C. (1881). "The Late Lord Chief Justice of England on Lunacy". Brain 4: 1-26. 
• Dalby, J. T. (2006) The case of Daniel McNaughton: Let's get the story straight. American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 27, 17-32.
• Diamond, B. L. (1956). "Isaac Ray and the trial of Daniel M'Naghten". American Journal of Psychiatry 112(8): 651-656. 
• Moran, R. [1981] (2000). Knowing Right from Wrong: The Insanity Defense of Daniel McNaughtan. Free Press. ISBN 0743205898. 
• — (2004) "McNaughtan, Daniel (1802/3–1865)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, accessed 3 Sept 2007 (subscription or UK/ Ireland public library membership required)
• Parker, C.S. (ed.) (1891-9) Sir Robert Peel: From His Private Papers, 3 vols.
• Walk, A. & West, D. J. (1977). Daniel McNaughtan: His Trial and the Aftermath. Gaskell Books. 

External links

• Full text of decision from BAILII.org