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DELUSION

In medical jurisprudence. An insane delusion is an unreasoning and incorrigible belief in the existence of facts which are either impossible absolutely, or, at least, Impossible under the circumstances of the individual. It is never the result of reasoning and reflection; it is not generated by them, and it cannot be dispelled by them; and hence It is not to be confoundetl with an opinion, however fantastic the latter may be. Guiteau’s Case (D. C.) 10 Fed. 170. See INSANITY.

Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition

med. jurisp. A diseased state of the mind, in which persons believe things to exist, which exist only, or in the degree they are conceived of only in their own imaginations, with a persuasion so fixed and firm, that neither evidence nor argument can convince them to the contrary. 2. The individual is, of course, insane. For example, should a parent unjustly persist without the least ground in attributing to his daughter a course of vice, and use her with uniform unkindness, there not being the slightest pretence or color of reason for the supposition, a just inference of insanity, or delusion, would arise in the minds of a jury: because a supposition long entertained and persisted in, after argument to the contrary, and against the natural affections of a parent, suggests that he must labor under some morbid mental delusion.

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