caa a22 4500 386334560 CHVBK 20180307111728.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e198909 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0790966700015354 doi S0790966700015354 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0790966700015354 d'Orbán Paul T. Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG Automatism — a medico-legal conundrum [Elektronische Daten] [Paul T. d'Orbán] During the past 35 years, a series of Court decisions have developed and refined the concept of automatism, defined in law as unconscious involuntary action. Two varieties of automatism have come to be recognised. In insane automatism, the absence of mens rea is caused by disease of the mind, and the defence leads to an insanity verdict with compulsory detention in hospital. In non-insane automatism, the mind is affected by some external factor and the findings result in complete acquittal. However, from the medical point of view, the distinction between exogenous and endogenous factors is naive and may lead to decisions that are contrary to natural justice and common sense. The main practical problems arise because of the mandatory commital to hospital when there is an insanity verdict and legal reform is required. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989 Automatism nationallicence Crime nationallicence Jurisprudence nationallicence Forensic Psychiatry nationallicence Homicide nationallicence Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine Cambridge University Press 6/2(1989-09), 71-80 0790-9667 6:2<71 1989 6 IPM https://doi.org/10.1017/S0790966700015354 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 review-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0790966700015354 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- d'Orbán Paul T. Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine Cambridge University Press 6/2(1989-09), 71-80 0790-9667 6:2<71 1989 6 IPM CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge