Also known as: lunatics · insane person
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
An insane or mentally incompetent person.
The condition exempts the individual from the ordinary reasonable-person standard of care for self-protection and triggers special privileges to enter land or take custody.
An insane or mentally incompetent person.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The condition exempts the individual from the ordinary reasonable-person standard of care for self-protection and triggers special privileges to enter land or take custody.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Presence under legal compulsion does not create a domicile of choice. An insane person committed to an asylum does not acquire a domicile there unless the commitment is voluntary and the person retains capacity to form the requisite intent.
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Colonial laws often exempted infants and lunatics from forfeiture of goods after suicide. The exemption reflected the common-law view that a lunatic lacked the mental capacity required for criminal or civil penalties.
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Leonard Lowe, an experienced nurse, climbed a shelf despite posted warnings and nearby safety gear. He slipped on a spill and sued the hospital. The hospital raised contributory negligence. Because Leonard was neither a child nor a lunatic, the jury measured his conduct by the objective reasonable-adult standard under like circumstances.
Lars Lindstrom was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. After sentencing he developed severe delusions. Because Lars was a lunatic, the state could not carry out the execution under the Eighth Amendment.
Latoya Lane sued a phone company over a thirty-dollar billing error. The company cited an arbitration clause. The court noted that only a lunatic would file an individual suit for such a small sum, illustrating why class procedures matter in consumer cases.
Lily Lopez's ancestor died by suicide in colonial Virginia. Because the decedent was not a lunatic or infant, the estate forfeited goods to the Crown under the common-law rule then in force.
Lila Lin arrived at a port and state officers inspected her under an 1882 federal law. The statute authorized exclusion of any lunatic or indigent immigrant. Lila was detained because officers found her mentally incompetent.
Lorenzo Lugo gave an interview to a magazine. The published article attributed grandiose statements to him. Lorenzo argued the quotes made him sound like a lunatic. The court examined whether the attributed words materially altered the tone of his actual remarks.
The Restatement provides that an insane person is exempt from the ordinary reasonable-person standard that governs self-protection. A lunatic's conduct is therefore not measured by that benchmark when the defendant raises contributory negligence.
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A person may enter land to take into custody under a warrant, valid or fair on its face, one who has been adjudged a lunatic, or to recapture a dangerous lunatic on fresh pursuit.
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…or other humor:. . . his goods and chattels are the king's custom, but not his debts nor lands; but in case he be an infant, a lunatic, mad or distracted man, he forfeits nothing." Virginia also required ignominious burial for suicides, and their estates were forfeit to the Crown. Over time, however, the American Colonies…