of insanity and
for the introduction of the defence and the proof of insanity under the
general plea of "not guilty." At present the defendant has his choice
of openly announcing or of concealing until the trial his intention of
claiming that he was insane and so irresponsible for his crime. This is
an advantage the results of which were probably not fully contemplated
by the Legislature, and one to which an accused has no fair claim.

Fortunately, in the same section of the Code (658), which provides
that the court may appoint a Commission to inquire into the sanity of
a defendant at the time of his trial, there exists another provision,
hitherto little noticed, that:

"When a defendant PLEADS INSANITY, as prescribed in Section 336, the
court in which the indictment is pending, instead of proceeding with the
trial of the indictment, may appoint a commission of not more than three
disinterested persons to examine him and report to the court as to his
insanity at the time of the commission of the crime."

If a defendant intends to prove himself irresponsible for his offence,
why should he not be compelled to enter a specific plea to that effect?
Once he has entered that plea, the law as it stands just quoted will do
the rest. No reason has been brought to the attention of the writer why
the admission of any evidence upon the defendant's trial tending to show
that he was mentally irresponsible at the time of committing the crime
should not be made contingent upon the defence of insanity having been
specifically pleaded either at the time of his arraignment or later by
substitution for or in conjunction with the plea of "not guilty." This
would deprive him of no constitutional right whatever. There is no legal
necessity of permitting an accused to prove insanity under a general
answer of "not guilty." Then upon his own plea that he had been insane
he could instantly be committed to some place of observation where a
permanent medical board of inquiry could be given full opportunity to
examine him and study his case with a view to determining his present
and past mental condition. He would still have in prospect his regular
jury trial, but if this board found him at the present time insane,
the court could immediately commit him to an asylum pending recovery,
precisely as under the present procedure, while if they found him sane
at the present time, but reported that, in their opinion (whatever test,
"medical" or "legal,"