Governmentality and the Common Law: Expansion of “Mind” 1835–1885

Abstract

The nineteenth century saw significant changes in how the law articulated the assessment of those who came before the courts. The judges made greater, and more refined, use of the concept of the mind as a way to refer to the internal lives of the parties. Using a Foucauldian lens, judgments from the sub-disciplines of criminal, succession and contract law will be assessed. Two specific aspects will be considered—the manner in which the law disciplined the subjects themselves and the manner in which the profession operated as a form of externalised governance. This deployment of the term “mind” used by the judges conforms with the idea that the law was taking on a new role in the governance of English society while emphasising specific tensions within each area.