[Rarebooks] fa: TRIAL FOR MURDER of Sir Archibald Gordon Kinloch 1795 - FIRST INSANITY DEFENSE

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, November 16. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/nsy6zyd

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.



The Trial of Sir Archibald Gordon Kinloch, of Gilmerton, Bart. for the Murder of Sir Francis Kinloch, Bart. his Brother-German. Before the High Court of Justiciary on Monday June 29 1795. Taken in Short Hand,—and carefully revised by the Counsel. Edinburgh: Printed by C. Denovan, for J. Elder… and G.G. and J. Robinson, 1795. FIRST EDITION. Disbound 8vo; vi + 161 pp.; with the half-title.

First and only edition of the transcripts of this "epochal trial," the first in which an insanity defense was presented in a Scottish court and one of the very first trials in Great Britain to consider the criminal liability of the insane. Although convicted of murdering his brother, Sir Archibald Kinloch was judged insane and released into the care and custody of his family rather than hanged, a decision that provoked much controversy at the time.

Disbound from a nonce volume with remnants of the earlier leather binding on the spine; half-title leaf and final leaf with some light soiling and a small tear at the gutter; mild toning to the contents, a few occasional spots and stains; unobtrusive library stamp to top and bottom page edges; two leaves with brief marginal annotations in an early hand; otherwise clean and sound, securely bound.