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Since Isaac Ray wrote his classical Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity in 1838 very few books on the relationship between psychiatry and the law have appeared. Henry Maudsley and Charles Mercier, psychiatrists, gave us valued volumes in the last century, and Sheldon Glueck and Henry Weihofen have more recently presented important studies of mental disorder as it relates to criminal law.
Now, for the first time, we have a much needed volume written in collaboration by a psychiatrist and a lawyer which examines the many phases of psychiatry as it is related to the various aspects of the law. The first eight chapters present what may be termed the basic concepts of psychiatry and the classification of mental disorders: the development of personality, the psychoneuroses, the 'functional' psychoses, organic brain disease, and mental deficiency, for example. The next three chapters describe aspects of the psychiatrist's testimony in court. Chapters on the patient's privilege of silence, hospitalizing the mentally ill, mental incompetency and veracity follow, with consideration of the relation of psychiatry to crime and criminals. A final chapter, Ounces of Prevention, discusses some of the psychological mechanisms of criminal behavior and suggests possible preventive approaches.
Dr. Guttmacher, Chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's Committee on Legal Aspects of Psychiatry and Chief Medical Officer of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore, needs no introduction to psychiatrists as an experienced and thoughtful worker in the field of forensic psychiatry. Prof. Weihofen, his collaborator, has been for over twenty years especially interested in the psychiatric aspects of the law, and has written much on the subject. They are both thoroughly familiar with the literature, legal and medical, and cite many illustrative cases.