Abstract
For the study of historical relationships between law and psychiatry, many approaches are possible. A few scholars have focused on particular relationships [22, 19, 23], while most have incorporated legal aspects into more general reviews of the history of psychiatry in the United States1 [ 11, 13, 8] . Yet to be explored in any depth are the legal implications of moral therapy, legal aspects of the mental hygiene movement as it emerged during the latter part of the 19th century, and legal terms used as metaphors by physicians characterizing concepts of health before 1900.2 Another approach would be to examine the thoughts of American physicians who wanted their 19th century colleagues to accept the importance of utilizing their knowledge of insanity in helping courts of law perform their societal tasks. Although more narrow in scope and seemingly more remote from a study of mental health concepts, I believe that this focus of historical inquiry can be illuminating.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Ackerknecht, Erwin H.: 1950–51, Various Articles, Ciba Symposia, 11, 1286– 1304.
Beck, Theodric Romeyn: 1823, Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, 2 vols., Albany.
Brittain, Robert P.: 1962, Bibliography of Medico-Legal Works in English, Fred B. Rothman, South Hackensack, New Jersey.
Burns, Chester R.: 1976, ‘The Non-Naturals: A Paradox in the Western Concept of Health’, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 1, 202–211.
Burns, Chester R.: 1975, Introduction to reprint of Thomas Percival’s Medical Ethics, Robert E. Krieger Pub. Co., Huntingdon, New York, pp. xiii–xxviii.
Burns, Chester R.: 1975, ‘Diseases Versus Healths: Some Legacies in the Philosophies of Modern Medical Science’, in H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. and Stuart F. Spicker (eds.), Evaluation and Explanation in the Biomedical Sciences, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht and Boston, pp. 29–47.
Burns, Chester R.: 1976, ‘Opening Remarks’, in H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. and Stuart F. Spicker (eds.), Philosophical Medical Ethics: Its Nature and Significance, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht and Boston, pp. 21–26.
Caplan, Ruth B.: 1969, Psychiatry and the Community in Nineteenth Century America, Basic Books, New York.
Chaille, Stanford E.: 1876, Origin and Progress of Medical Jurisprudence 1776– 1876 Philadelphia.
Coppens, Charles: 1897, Moral Principles and Medical Practice: The Basis of Medical Jurisprudence, 1st ed., Benziger, New York.
Dain, Norman: 1964, Concepts of Insanity in the United States, 1789–1865, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Elwell, John J.: 1860, A Medico-Legal Treatise on Malpractice and Medical Evidence, Comprising the Elements of Medical Jurisprudence New York.
Grob, Gerald: 1973, Mental Institutions in America: Social Policy to 1875, Free Press, New York.
Halleck, Seymour: 1968, ‘American Psychiatry and the Criminal: A Historical Review’, International Journal of Psychiatry 6, 185–208.
Marx, Otto: 1968, ‘American Psychiatry without William James’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 42, 52–61.
Mora, George: 1965, ‘The History of Psychiatry: A Cultural and Bibliographical Survey’, Psychoanalytic Review 52, 154–184.
Ordronaux, John: 1878, Commentaries on the Lunacy Laws of New York, and on the Judicial Aspects of Insanity at Common Law and Inequity, Including Procedure, as Expounded in England and the United States, John D. Parsons, Jr., Albany.
Ray, Isaac: 1838, A Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity, Boston. New edition, 1962, Winfred Overholser (ed.), Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Rosenberg, Charles E.: 1968, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau: Psychiatry and Law in the Gilded Age, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Rush, Benjamin: 1811, Sixteen Introductory Lectures Upon the Institutes and Practice of Medicine, With a Syllabus of the Latter, Bradford and Innskeep, Philadelphia.
Smith, Wilson: 1956, Professors and Public Ethics, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.
Szasz, Thomas: 1963, Law, Liberty and Psychiatry, Macmillan, New York.
Zilboorg, Gregory: 1944, ‘Legal Aspects of Psychiatry’, in J. K. Hall (ed.), One Hundred Years of American Psychiatry, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 507 –584.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1977 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Burns, C.R. (1977). American Medico-Legal Traditions and Concepts of Mental Health: The Nineteenth Century. In: Engelhardt, H.T., Spicker, S.F. (eds) Mental Health: Philosophical Perspectives. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-6909-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-6909-5_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-015-6911-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-6909-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive