--"In what terms ought the question to be left to
the jury as to the prisoner's state of mind when the act was
committed?
Answers 2 and 3.--"As these two questions appear to us to be
more conveniently answered together, we submit our opinion to
be that the jurors ought to be told, in all cases, that every
man is presumed to be sane, and to possess a sufficient degree
of reason to be responsible for his crimes, until the contrary
be proved to their satisfaction; and that, to establish a
defence on the ground of insanity it must he clearly proved
that at the time of committing the act the accused was
laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the
mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was
doing, or, if he did know it, that he did not know he was
doing what was wrong." (The remainder of the answer goes on
to discuss the usual way the question is put to the jury.)
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Now, with that commendable reverence for judicial utterance
which is so characteristic of the English nation, and is so
conspicuously absent in our own country, it was assumed until
recently that this solemn pronunciamento was the last word on
the question of criminal responsibility and settled the matter
once and forever.
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