Idiots, Lunatics and the Royal Prerogative in Early Tudor England

Authors

Margaret McGlynn, The University of Western Ontario

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2005

Volume

26

Issue

1

Journal

Journal of Legal History

First Page

1

Last Page

20

URL with Digital Object Identifier

doi: 10.1080/01440360500034420

Abstract

This article examines the care and custody of the insane under the common law in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. Lectures given in the Inns of Court and records of actual idiots and lunatics suggest that, despite the king's prerogative rights over the insane, there seems to have been a general recognition that their families could often provide for them. While the king did not abdicate all his claims to their custody, the administration of those claims demonstrates that a balance could be maintained between the letter of the king's feudal rights, and familial and social expectations of the treatment of the insane.