House of Lords Quotes
...it must be clearly proved that, at the time of committing the act, the party accused was labouring under such a defect of reason, from disease of mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing was wrong; or, if he did know it, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong.
This is the oldest test in Western jurisprudence as to whether a person was insane at the time he/she committed a crime. In England, the House of Lords functions as the Supreme Court.
House of Lords, M'Naghten's Case, 1843
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Prime Minister was complaining about a British high court decision that ruled that a person who had committed premeditated murder was insane at the time of the murder and therefore not criminally responsible. Many politicians complain about the same situation today. This quotation however was about the original MacNaghten defendant for whom the legal rule of insanity defense was named.
This is an amazingly intellectually advanced quotation. Herman Helcher, was a former pupil of hers who had become mentally deranged and tried to murder her and left her permanently injured. She not only argued against the jailing of a mentally ill person, but she recognized mental illness for what it is—a disease of the brain. This concept was not appreciated by most American politicians or constituents even into the 21st century.
Even though a Muslim and one of the senior members of Jinnah's Muslim League, he thought that Jinnah and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee were delusional about being able to have a Muslim nation encompassing the Punjab. He was right, and hundreds of thousands died in Sikh-Muslim attacks and then Hindu-Muslim conflict in the Punjab. Khizar left politics and would not take any post in Pakistan after the partition of the Punjab and the slaughter that followed.
This is one of the earliest views that insane people should not be criminally punished for their acts. To a great extent, Constantine and his contemporaries believed that insanity was the work of the Devil or demons and therefore one should not sympathize with the condition either.
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster.
