From paranoia querulans to vexatious litigants: a short study on madness between psychiatry and the law. Part 2 - Archive ouverte HAL Access content directly
Journal Articles History of Psychiatry Year : 2015

From paranoia querulans to vexatious litigants: a short study on madness between psychiatry and the law. Part 2

Abstract

The second part of this paper examines the history of querulous paranoia and vexatious litigation in the English-speaking countries from the nineteenth century to today. This study suggests that the lack of thorough research on querulous paranoia in these countries is due to a broad cultural, legal and medical context which has caused unreasonable complainants to be considered a purely legal, rather than a medical issue. To support this hypothesis, I analyse how legal steps have been taken throughout the English-speaking world since 1896 to keep the unreasonable complainants at bay, and I present reasons why medical measures have scarcely been adopted. However, I also submit evidence that this division of responsibilities between the judges and the psychiatrists has taken a new turn since the dawn of the twenty-first century.
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Dates and versions

hal-03479175 , version 1 (14-12-2021)

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Benjamin Lévy. From paranoia querulans to vexatious litigants: a short study on madness between psychiatry and the law. Part 2. History of Psychiatry, 2015, 26 (1), pp.36-49. ⟨10.1177/0957154X14542728⟩. ⟨hal-03479175⟩
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