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Definition: insanity from The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide

In medicine and law, any mental disorder in which the patient cannot be held responsible for their actions. The term is no longer used to refer to psychosis.

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Madness

insanity

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or of conforming to social standards. Today, the term insanity is used chiefly in criminal law, to denote mental aberrations or defects that may relieve a person from the legal consequences of his or her acts. The case of Daniel McNaughtan, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity after making an assassination attempt on British prime minister Robert Peel (1834), gave rise to the modern insanity defense used in many Western nations today. In the United States, the 1954 case of Durham v. the United States led to the establishment of new rules for testing defendants. Today, psychologists may perform tests to determine whether or not the defendant is mentally stable. Such tests try to ascertain whether or not a defendant can distinguish right from wrong, and whether or not he acted on an “irresistible impulse.” John Hinckley's assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan (1981) became another…
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Full text Article madness

From Collins Dictionary of Sociology
mental derangement (‘insanity’) which disrupts the ‘normal’ social functioning of an individual, leading to strange and unpredictable behaviour. In modern medical or psychiatric DISCOURSE ,‘madness’ is conceptualized and treated either as one of a number of physically grounded medical conditions…
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Full text Article MADNESS

From Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850
Madness was a highly topical subject in Britain during the earlier years of the Romantic era. This was partly because King George III began to show signs of mental instability in 1788 and 1789, and was eventually replaced by his eldest son in 1810 and 1811. Newspapers continued to report regularly…
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Full text Article Insanity

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Insanity is a degree of mental illness or disorder that relieves a person of legal responsibility for his or her actions or negates the person’s legal capacity to do certain acts. The term, insanity, has several meanings in the criminal law, depending on the context in which it is used. When…
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Full text Article insanity

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or of conforming to social standards. Today, the term insanity is used chiefly in criminal law, to denote mental aberrations or defects that may relieve a person from the legal consequences of his or her acts. …
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Full text Article INSANITY

From The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment
The Anglo-American Enlightenment applied the methods of the Scientific Revolution and the belief that observation and reason could discover and explain the natural laws governing the universe, human nature, and society. The latter two investigations were largely subsumed under the heading of moral…
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Full text Article insanity

From Collins Dictionary of Law
in the criminal law of England and Scotland, a plea in relation to the mental state of the accused. It maybe pled as a defence in its own right or submitted as a plea of insanity in bar of trial. In English law, every person is presumed sane unless the contrary is proved. The burden of proving…
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Full text Article insanity

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
Severe mental illness or derangement. Not used in psychiatric diagnosis. Law a. Unsoundness of mind sufficient to render a person unfit to maintain a contractual or other legal relationship or sufficient to warrant commitment to a mental health facility. b. Incapacity to form the criminal intent…
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Full text Article Insanity

From Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment in the United States
Insanity is a legal term of art that varies in meaning, depending upon the jurisdiction. As a general matter, insanity is a condition of the mind which negates the necessary mens rea or culpability prong of an offense. In the eyes of the law, insanity may be temporary, permanent, or partial. The…
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Full text Article insanity

From Collins Dictionary of Medicine
A legal rather than a medical term, implying a disorder of the mind of such degree as to interfere with a person's ability to be legally responsible for his or her actions. The term is little used in medicine but might equate to PSYCHOSIS . A defence of insanity, in law, is governed by the…
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Full text Article insanity

From Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law
:unsoundness of mind or lack of the ability to understand that prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or that releases one from criminal or civil responsibility: as a :a disease, defect, or condition of the mind…
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