Editing Insanity defense (section)

==Non compos mentis==
''[[Non compos mentis]]'' (Latin) is a legal term meaning "not of sound mind".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thesaurus.com/browse/non+compos+mentis|title=non compos mentis|website=thesaurus.com|access-date=2 February 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202190351/http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/non+compos+mentis|archive-date=2 February 2018}}</ref> ''Non compos mentis'' derives from the [[Latin]] ''non'' meaning "not", ''compos'' meaning "control" or "command", and ''mentis'' ([[genitive]] [[Grammatical number|singular]] of ''[[mens]]''), meaning "of mind". It is the direct opposite of ''[[Compos mentis]]'' (of a sound mind).

Although typically used in law, this term can also be used metaphorically or figuratively; e.g. when one is in a confused state, intoxicated, or not of sound mind. The term may be applied when a determination of competency needs to be made by a physician for purposes of obtaining [[informed consent]] for treatments and, if necessary, assigning a surrogate to make health care decisions.  While the proper sphere for this determination is in a court of law, this is practically, and most frequently, made by physicians in the clinical setting.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Appelbaum |first1=Paul S. |title=Assessment of patients' competence to consent to treatment |journal=The New England Journal of Medicine |date=1 November 2007 |volume=357 |issue=18 |pages=1834–40 |doi=10.1056/NEJMcp074045 |pmid=17978292|s2cid=28287262 }}</ref>

In English law, the rule of ''non compos mentis'' was most commonly used when the defendant invoked religious or magical explanations for behaviour.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi= 10.2307/3475205|title=History of insanity as a defence to crime in English Criminal Law |last=Crotty |first=Homer D. |date=January 1924 |journal=California Law Review |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=105–123 |jstor=3475205 |doi-access=free }}</ref>