Commonwealth v. Lewis

Citations

• 222 Pa. 302
• 71 A. 18
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 698

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder—Insanity—Charge.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for murder the trial judge correctly charges on the subject of insanity as follows: “If the prisoner although he labors under partial insanity, hallucination or delusion, did understand the nature and character of his act, had a knowledge that it was wrong and criminal, and mental power sufficient to apply that knowledge to his own case, and he knew if he did the act he would do wrong and would receive punishment; and if, further, he had sufficient power of memory to recall the relation in which he stood to others, and others stood to him, and that the act in question was contrary to the plain dictates of justice and right, injurious to others and in violation of the dictates of duty, he would be responsible; or, putting it in briefer shape, the law is that whether the insanity be general or partial the degree of it must be so great as to have controlled the will of its subject and to have taken from him the freedom of moral action.”</p> <p>Practice — Trial—Charge—Points.</p> <p>A trial judge is not bound to adopt the language of points, but may choose his own form of expression, and if it expresses the law fully and with substantial accuracy nothing further is necessary.</p>