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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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McNaughten Rules
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(also spelt McNaghten and M'Naghten) The rules for the treatment of defendants who plead insanity. They derive from the case of Daniel McNaughten, tried in 1843 for murdering the prime minister's secretary whom he mistook for the prime minister. Suffering from delusions of persecution, he was acquitted as 'not guilty by reason of insanity'. The original statute defining the rules said that such persons must be detained in a hospital 'during Her Majesty's pleasure'. It was in effect a life sentence for murder, and the importance of this form of verdict was much reduced with the abolition of *capital punishment.
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