levo

Criminal Law: Capacity Defences

Disease of the mind and the internal cause test

  • 3 things to know
  • Components 2 and 3

Overview

The legal rather than medical meaning of disease of the mind, and the internal cause line that puts arteriosclerosis, epilepsy, diabetes-caused hyperglycaemia and sleepwalking inside insanity.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What is a disease of the mind in law?

Key term

Must the disease of the mind be a disease of the brain?

Numbers

Which case held that hardening of the arteries could be a disease of the mind?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is a disease of the mind in law?

    Model answer

    A disease of the mind is a legal concept rather than a medical one. Any condition affecting the mental faculties of reason, memory and understanding can qualify.

  2. 2

    Must the disease of the mind be a disease of the brain?

    Model answer

    The disease need not affect the brain itself. A physical illness affecting the functioning of the mind is enough.

  3. 3

    Which case held that hardening of the arteries could be a disease of the mind?

    Model answer

    R v Kemp [1957] held that arteriosclerosis restricting the blood supply to the brain was a disease of the mind. The defect of reason it produced brought the defendant within the M'Naghten rules.

  4. 4

    Which case held that epilepsy is a disease of the mind?

    Model answer

    R v Sullivan [1984] held that a defendant who injured a man during a seizure was legally insane. The source of the impairment was internal, so insanity rather than automatism applied.

  5. 5

    Which case held that sleepwalking is a disease of the mind?

    Model answer

    R v Burgess [1991] held that sleepwalking arising from an internal cause is a disease of the mind. The defendant who attacked a friend while asleep received the special verdict.

  6. 6

    How are diabetes cases divided between insanity and automatism?

    Model answer

    The division turns on whether the cause of the impairment was internal or external. High blood sugar from untreated diabetes is internal, while low blood sugar caused by insulin is external.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Parliamentary and European Law Making
Delegated Legislation
Statutory Interpretation
Judicial Precedent

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

The court sits in .
StrasbourgLondonParis

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AAn interim injunction restrains publication before trial.
BPublication cannot be undone.
CAn injunction may be the only effective remedy.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

A Public Bill changes the general law.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Criminal Law: Capacity Defences, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.