 | Edmund Powell - Evidence - 1856 - 374 pages
...three classes of wholly incompetent witnesses : — 1. Idiots, 2. Lunatics. 3. Children. 1. An idiot is one that hath had no understanding from his nativity,...therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any;3 and such a person is incapable of giving evidence. But deaf and dumb persons, if they are of... | |
 | Henry John Stephen - Law - 1858 - 718 pages
...to idiots and lunaties (h). First, — [An idiot or natural fool,] as he is also legally described, [is one that hath had no understanding from his nativity...by law presumed never likely to attain any.] A man, however, [is not an idiot if he hath any glimmering of reason (/), so that he can tell his parents... | |
 | Photography - 1859 - 688 pages
...and that wo may hopefully doubt the harsh legal definition of an idiot given by Blackstone as being " one that hath had no understanding; from his nativity,...therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any." For here we read of poor children, who instead of being " little lower than the angels," are little... | |
 | Edmund Powell - Evidence (Law) - 1859 - 540 pages
...have three classes of incompetent witnesses : — 1. Idiots. 2. Lunatics. 3. Children. \. An idiot is one that hath had no understanding from his nativity,...therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any;1 and such a person is incapable of giving evidence. But deaf and dumb persons, if they are of... | |
 | William Blackstone, George Sharswood - Law - 1860 - 874 pages
...also the custody of lunatics. An idiot, or natural fool, is one that hath had no understanding froid his nativity ; and therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any. For which reason the custody of *him and of his lands was formerly vested in the lord of the fee ;(j)... | |
 | Edmund Powell - Evidence - 1869 - 786 pages
...have three classes of incompetent witnesses :— • 1. Idiots. 2. Lunatics. 3. Children. 1. An idiot is one that hath had no understanding from his nativity,...therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any (/>); and such a person is (p) 1 Bl. Comm. 303. P. C incapable of giving evidence. But deaf and dumb... | |
 | William Blackstone, George Sharswood - Law - 1875 - 860 pages
...whence we shall be naturally led to consider also the custody of lunatics. An idiot, or natural fool, is one that hath had no understanding from his nativity;...therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any. For which reason the custody of *him and of his lands was formerly vested in the г $303 lord of the... | |
 | William Blackstone - Law - 1876 - 782 pages
...naturally led to consider also the custody of lunatics. An idiot, or natural fool, is one that hath liad no understanding from his nativity; and therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any. For which reason the custody of *him and of his lands was formerly vested r*ono-i in the lord of the... | |
 | American Association on Mental Deficiency - People with mental disabilities - 1877 - 1178 pages
...definition of an idiot given by Blackstonc in his " Commentaries" (vol. ip 302), as " a natural fool, that hath had no understanding from his nativity ;...therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any ;" or that other definition as given by Fitzherbert (" Natura Brevium," 583), " a person who cannot... | |
 | Henry John Stephen, James Stephen - Law - 1880 - 824 pages
...already noticed (I). But it also extends to the case of idiots and lunaties. [An idiot (or natural fool) is one that hath had no understanding from his nativity...therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any : but none is to be held such who hath any glimmering of reason (c), BO that he can tell his parents,... | |
| |
An idiot, or natural fool, is one that hath had no understanding from his nativity ; and therefore is by law presumed never likely to attain any. 
