When It Pays to Be Insane: Three Unusual Legacies of Insanity

Abstract

Although the law generally does not permit an individual to profit by his own wrongdoing, that equitable principle may be inapplicable in the case of an individual who has been adjudicated insane (and therefore has not committed a wrong in the eyes of the law). This papar discusses three unusual legacies of a determination of insanity: (1) the inheritance cases (permitting the insane killer to inherit from his own victim), (2) the life insurance cases (permitting the beneficiary to recover when the insured commits suicide while insane), and (3) the effect of insanity on publication rights agreements in sensational criminal cases.