The Question of "Justifiable Homicide"

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... THE QUESTION OF JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE. BT CHARLES GREENE COMSTON, M.D., BOSTON. There is hardly a day goes by that the daily papers do not give a detailed account of some crime arising from jealousy, and it would appear natural to suppose that on a question so frequently brought up, public opinion and penal science should have arrived at a solution no longer to be disputed. Such, however, is not the case, and there are few subjects in penal law which have been so frequently discussed and will continue to be. In most cases of so-called justifiable homicide, the jury will render a verdict of not guilty, and it is quite certain that they cannot be blamed. We have endeavored to discover the reason for this condition of affairs and also problems that justifiable homicide brings up. There are three principal ones which deserve attention, the first two belonging to the responsibility of the criminal from passion, the third being the question of the application of the law. Firstly, as to responsibility; should one consider an individual, carried away by his passion, possessed of hismental faculties to their full extent? At the present time we no longer possess the beautiful serenity of our ancestors who divided man into healthy beings and lunatics, the first possessing all their intellectual faculties, especially a stronger will and a mind never clouded; the others, without will, simple machines, always depending upon the physician and never on the magistrate. The progress of medicine and psychology has taught us that a perfect moral health in man is quite as rare as his perfect physical health. Even outside the realms of characterized pathologic conditions, it is very certain that the will is quite susceptible of a plus or a minus state; man's...