Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/182

 170 FEDERAL REPORTER. �To which it was answered, that — �" In case lie labors under a partial delusion only, and is not in other respects insane, he must be considered in the same situation, as to responsibility, as if the facts with regard to which the delusion exista were real. For example, if under the influence of his delusion he supposes another raan to be in the act of attempting his life, and he kills that man, as he supposes, in self-defence, he would be exempt from punishment. If his delusion was that the deceased had inflicted a serious injury to his character and fortune, and lie killed him in revenge for such supposed injury, he would be liable to punisliment." �Tins, you will understand, was because it was excusable to kill in self-defence, but not to kill in re venge for an injury. �ihis bas been in part recognized as law in this country. �Tbus Ohief Justice Sbaw, of Massacbusetts, in the case of Com. v. Rogers, 7 Mete. 500, says : �"Monomania may operate as an excuse for a criminal act" when the "de- lusion is such that the person under its influence haa a real and firm belief of some fact, not true in itself, but which, if it M'ere true, would excuse his act ; as when the belief is that the party killed had an immediate design upon his life, and under that belief the insane man kills in supposed self-defence. A comraon instance is, where he fully believes that the act he is doing is done by the immediate command of God, and he acts under the delusive but sin- cere belief that what he is doing is by the command of a superior power, which supersedes all human laws and the laws of nature." �The eases I have referred to furnish an introduction to the subject of insane delusions, which plays an important part in this case, and demands careful consideration. We find it treated, to a limited extent, in judicial decisions, but learn more about it from works on medical jurisprudence and expert testimony. Sane people are said Bometimea to have delusions, proceeding from temporary disorder and deception of the senses, and they entertain extreme opinions which are founded upon insufficient evidence, or resuit from igno- rance, or they are speculations on matters beyond the soope of human knowledge ; but they are always susceptible of being corrected and removed by evidence and argument. �But the insane delusion, according to all testimony, seems to be an unreasoning and incorrigible belief in the existence of facts which are either impossible absolutely, or, at least, impossible under the cir- cumstances of the individual. A man, with no reason for it, believes that another is attempting his life, or that he himself is the owner of untold wealth, or that he bas invented something which will revolu- tionize the world, or that he is president of the United States, or that he is God or Christ, or that he is dead, or that he is immortal, or ��� �