Smith R
Department of History, University of Lancaster.
Psychol Med. 1989 May;19(2):289-300. doi: 10.1017/s0033291700012332.
The comparative history of forensic psychiatry may help unravel relations between legal and administrative procedure, medical knowledge and expertise, and social interests, as they determine judgements about the criminal responsibility of the mentally disordered. But little has been done to compare the past or the present under different jurisdictions. This paper, therefore, suggests some points which would encourage such comparisons, and particularly a comparison between France and England in the nineteenth century, for both of which countries there is now a valuable historical literature. It also illustrates the complex interaction of procedure and medical expertise by reference to the case of George Victor Townley (1863).
法医精神病学的比较史或许有助于厘清法律与行政程序、医学知识与专业技能以及社会利益之间的关系，因为这些因素决定了对精神错乱者刑事责任的判定。然而，针对不同司法管辖区的过去与现在进行比较的工作却做得很少。因此，本文提出了一些有助于开展此类比较的要点，尤其是19世纪法国与英国之间的比较，目前这两个国家都有宝贵的历史文献。本文还通过乔治·维克多·汤利（1863年）的案例，阐述了程序与医学专业技能之间复杂的相互作用。
