LIBERTY AND LUNACY: THE VICTORIANS AND WRONGFUL CONFINEMENT.

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  • Author(s): McCandless, Peter
  • Source:
    Journal of Social History. Spring78, Vol. 11 Issue 3, p366. 21p.
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
      PSYCHIATRIC hospitals; HISTORY of mental health laws; INSANITY (Law); HISTORY
    • Subject Terms:
      ENGLAND
    • Abstract:
      Examines the Victorians' attitudes toward wrongful confinement in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. Increase in private madhouses or asylums in the 18th Century; Creation of the Madhouse Act in the 1760s to prevent wrongful confinement; Periodic outbursts of rage against madhouse doctors and commitment laws; Problem of distinguishing between the sane and the insane; Public's low opinion of medical judgment in cases of insanity.