thing in ſtay of judgment or execution[1] . Indeed, in the bloody reign of Henry the eighth, a ſlatute was made"[2], which enacted, that if a perſobn, being compos mentis, ſhould commit high treaſon, and after fall into madneſs, he might be tried in his abſence, and ſhould ſuffer death, as if he were of perfect memory. But this ſavage and inhuman law was repealed by the ſtatute 1 & 2 Ph. & M. c. 10. For, as is obſerved by ſir Edward Coke[3], "the execution of an offender is for example, ut pocna ad paucos, metus ad omnes perveniat: but ſo it is not when a madman is executed; but ſhould be a miſerable ſpectacle, both againſt law, and of extreme inhumanity and cruelty, and can be no example to others." But if there be any doubt, whether the party be compos or not, this mall be tried by a jury. And if he be ſo found, a total idiocy, or abſolute inſanity, excuſes from the guilt, and of courſe from the puniſhment, of any criminal action committed under ſuch deprivationof the ſenſes: but, if a lunatic hath lucid intervals of underſtanding, he ſhall anſwer for what he does in thoſe intervals, as if he had no deficiency[4]. Yet, in the cafe of abſolute madmen, as they are not anſwerable for their actions, they ſhould not be permitted the liberty of adding unleſs under proper control; and, in particular, they ought not to be ſuffered to go looſe, to the terror of the king's ſubjects. It was the doctrine of our antient law, that perſons deprived of their reaſon might be confined till they recovered their ſenſes[5] , without waiting for the forms of a commiſſion or other ſpecial authority from the crown: and now, by the vagrant acts[6], a method is chalked out for impriſoning, chaining, and ſending them to their proper homes.
III. Thirdly; as to artificial, voluntarily contracted madneſs, by drunkenneſs or intoxication, which, depriving men of their reaſon, puts them in a temporary phrenzy; our law looks upon this as an aggravation of the offence, rather than as an
