Abstract
Mental illness is not a phenomenon which is unique or original to the nineteenth century. But the legal response by government to mental illness, in this period, is both novel and dramatic.1 The laws which regulated the activities of the mentally ill reflect the changing conception of insanity, in a world which itself was in a state of tumult and change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and References
K. Jones (1955) Lunacy, Law and Conscience, 1744–1845: The Social History of the Care of the Insane (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London) p. 22.
M. Foucault (1967) Madness and Civilisation: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason (Tavistock, London) p. 14.
M. Foucault (1974) Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison (Allen Lane, London) p. 26.
D. H. Tuke (1882) Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British Isles (Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., London) p. 116.
W. L. Parry-Jones (1972) The Trade in Lunacy: A Study of Private Madhouses in England in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London) pp. 13–14.
M. Ignatieff (1978) A Just Measure of Pain: The Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution, 1750–1850 (Macmillan, London) p. 113.
K. Jones (1955) op. cit., p. 26.
J. Haslam (1810) Illustrations of Madness.
J. Conolly (1830) An Enquiry Concerning the Indication of Insanity.
D. Roberts (1960) The Victorian Origins of the British Welfare State (Yale University Press, New Haven) p. 13.
S. Webb and B. Webb (1929) English Poor Law History: Part II, The Last Hundred Years (Longman, Green and Co., London) vol. I, pp. 3–34.
K. B. Smellie (1946) A History of English Local Government (George Allen and Unwin, London) p. 35.
J. Toulmin-Smith (1849) Government by Commissions — Illegal and Pernicious (Sweet, London).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1985 Tom Butler
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Butler, T. (1985). The Politics of Social Change and the Reform of the Lunacy Laws. In: Mental Health, Social Policy and the Law. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07439-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07439-6_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-07441-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-07439-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)