Abstract
This article explores the significance of the Hadfield case to the British legal system's views on criminal insanity. Hadfield's successful defense is analyzed in connection with the “regency crisis” involving King George III, whose enlightened views of the treatment of the insane, following his own “recovery” through the ministrations of the “mad doctors” of the time, had a profound influence on both the case and general societal attitudes toward the mad. Hadfield's unsuccessful attempt to assassinate George resulted in a trial at which Thomas Erskine was able to secure for the first time in British history the “statutory special verdict,” a defense of partial insanity.
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