Historia placitorum coronae. The history of the pleas of the crown

In the Savoy [London]: E. and R. Nutt and R. Gosling, for F. Gyles, T. Woodward, and C. Davis, 1736. First authorized. Mispaginated, but complete with frontispiece portrait by George Vertue, errata. Contemporary calf, rebacked with red and black leather spine labels, covers worn; interior with wormholes in the lower blank margins of the first and last few leaves, occasional soiling, heavier on endpapers and paste-downs. From the Haskell Norman library. First authorized edition. Lord Hale (1609-76) was considered the greatest legal mind of the period in England; his high authority has always been invoked against the plea of insanity. He defines the differences between medical and legal insanity, as well as partial or temporary insanity. On this subject, Lord Hale stated that only total insanity could absolve a criminal from legal responsibility, a principle still prevalent in present day criminal law. Hale also believed the moon was responsible for mental disease, and he is thought to have coined the term "lunatic.