Idiocy
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
In medical jurisprudence. A form of insanity, resulting either from congenital defect, or some obstacle to the development of the faculties in infancy. It is an imbecility or sterility of mind, and not a perversion of the understanding.
Chit. Med. Jur. 327, note (s) 345; 1 Russ. Crimes, 6; Bac. Abr. "Idiot" (A); Brooke, Abr.; Co. Litt. 246, 247; 3 Mod. 44; 1 Vern. 16; 4 Coke, 126; 1 Bl. Comm. 302.