What is the test for a defence of automatism?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Vickberg, 1998 CanLII 15068 (BC SC):
Ritchie J. further stated at p. 6: ... The central question in deciding any case involving the defence of automatism is whether or not the accused was suffering from a disease of the mind. The opinions of psychiatrists go no further than characterizing the condition in which the appellant was found as being "a dissociative state" but it is clear at least since the case of Bratty v. A.-G. Northern Ireland, [1963] A.C. 386, that the question of whether or not such a state amounts to "a disease of the mind" is a question of law for the Judge to determine.
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