Unsound Empire: Civilization and Madness in Late-Victorian Law

Description

A study of the internal tensions of British imperial rule told through murder and insanity trials Unsound Empire is a history of criminal responsibility in the nineteenth‑century British Empire told through detailed accounts of homicide cases across three continents. If a defendant in a murder trial was going to hang, he or she had to deserve it. Establishing the mental element of guilt—criminal responsibility—transformed state violence into law. And yet, to the consternation of officials in Britain and beyond, experts in new scientific fields posited that insanity was widespread and growing, and evolutionary theories suggested that wide swaths of humanity lacked the self‑control and understanding that common law demanded. Could it be fair to punish mentally ill or allegedly “uncivilized” people? Could British civilization survive if killers avoided the noose? Cover Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Introduction 1 Guilt and the Gallows 2 A Criminal Lunatic in Search of a Trial 3 Lovers, Monsters, and the Problem of Evil 4 Murder and Metaphysics in Colonial Victoria 5 Less Responsible Subjects 6 The Infanticidal Imperative 7 The Savage Heart of Empire 8 Cannibalism and Culpability Conclusion: Two Passages to India List of Abbreviations Notes Acknowledgments Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y