HYPNOTISM - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

HYPNOTISMAuthored

The Law Mind • 969 words

Definition

In medical jurisprudence, hypnotism refers to an artificially induced psychic or mental state — variously described as artificial somnambulism, induced catalepsy, or a trance-like condition — in which the subject becomes abnormally susceptible to suggestion at the direction of another person. The legal significance of hypnotism lies not in its clinical mechanics but in its implications for legal capacity, criminal responsibility, consent, and the admissibility of hypnotically refreshed testimony.

Legal treatment of hypnotism divides roughly across three concerns:

1. Criminal responsibility. A person acting under hypnotic suggestion may lack the volitional control necessary to form criminal intent, raising questions of mens rea and whether the hypnotized subject is an instrument of the hypnotist rather than an independent actor.

2. Consent and exploitation. Hypnotism implicates the capacity to give meaningful consent. Early legislative and judicial attention focused on whether hypnotists could exploit subjects financially, sexually, or otherwise — and whether such exploitation constituted fraud, assault, or a distinct statutory offense.

3. Testimonial evidence. Courts in the twentieth century confronted the admissibility of statements made during hypnosis and, more persistently, of post-hypnotic recollection. Hypnotically refreshed testimony raises reliability and suggestibility concerns that most modern courts address through threshold admissibility rules or per se exclusion.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "The art of inducing hypnosis."

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "A form of sleep or somnambulism brought on by artificial means, in which there is an unusual suspension of some powers, and an unusual activity of others."

The common definitions focus on hypnotism as a technique or physiological state. The legal definitions shift the emphasis to the relational and volitional dimension — specifically, the subordination of one person's will to another's. This shift matters because legal analysis turns not on the neurological mechanics of trance but on the implications for autonomy, suggestibility, and the reliability of acts or statements produced under hypnotic influence.

Common Confusion

Hypnotism is sometimes conflated with related concepts that carry distinct legal weight. Hypnotic suggestion (a specific communication delivered during the hypnotic state) differs from hypnotism itself. Hypnotically refreshed testimony (post-hypnotic recollection claimed to have been enhanced through prior hypnosis) is a procedural and evidentiary category with its own admissibility rules, not simply a subtype of hypnotism as a legal concept. Researchers should also distinguish between the legal status of the hypnotist's conduct and the legal status of the hypnotized subject's acts — courts have treated these as separable questions.

Why It Matters in Research

Hypnotism is a term that peaked in legal attention in two distinct periods, and conflating those periods produces research errors.

The first wave — roughly 1880 to 1920 — treated hypnotism as a social danger requiring legislative control. Bouvier reflects this era: the concern is with charlatanism, public performances, exploitation of vulnerable subjects, and whether the medical profession should hold a monopoly on hypnotic practice. Statutes from this period often criminalized non-medical hypnotic exhibitions or required licensure. Researchers consulting Bouvier or Black's 2nd ed. are working entirely within this regulatory frame.

The second wave — roughly 1960 onward — arose from criminal investigations that used hypnosis to refresh witness memory, and from defendants who claimed hypnotic compulsion as a defense to criminal charges. This evidentiary and criminal-law literature is largely invisible in the historical dictionaries and must be located through case law reporters and law review commentary from the mid-twentieth century forward.

Jurisdictional variation is significant. Some states enacted specific hypnosis statutes governing witness testimony; others addressed hypnotically refreshed evidence through judicial decision alone. A researcher who finds a nineteenth-century statutory prohibition on hypnotism should not assume it addresses testimonial use — that concern postdates the statute by decades.

The Bouvier entry references the International Cyclopædia and gestures toward a legislative debate about whether medical practitioners should hold exclusive authority over hypnotic practice. This signals that primary legislative history from the relevant state may be a productive source for understanding the policy context of early hypnotism statutes.

Black's 2nd ed. situates hypnotism explicitly within medical jurisprudence and includes the phrase "telepathic power" — a marker of how uncertain the scientific understanding was at the time. Researchers should treat the Black's framing as descriptive of turn-of-the-century legal and scientific assumptions, not as a reliable account of hypnotism's mechanism for modern purposes.

Historical Dictionary Support

Bouvier and Black's 2nd ed. agree on the core characterization: hypnotism is an artificially induced state of diminished volitional control and heightened suggestibility. Both treat it as a medical-jurisprudential topic rather than a purely doctrinal one, reflecting the era's tendency to defer to emerging scientific authority while remaining uncertain about its boundaries.

Bouvier is the more discursive of the two, reproducing extended scientific description and engaging the regulatory question of who may lawfully practice hypnotism. Its skepticism about granting medical practitioners a legislative monopoly is notable and suggests the entry was written against the backdrop of active state legislative debate. Black's 2nd ed. is more compressed and definitional, classifying hypnotism under medical jurisprudence without extended policy commentary.

Neither dictionary addresses hypnotically refreshed testimony, post-hypnotic suggestion as an evidentiary matter, or the criminal-defense use of hypnotic compulsion claims. These are the dominant legal contexts in which hypnotism appears today, and they are entirely absent from the historical sources. Researchers should treat the dictionaries as covering the regulatory and capacity dimensions of the term only.

Jurisdictional Note

American jurisdictions vary substantially in how they treat hypnotically refreshed witness testimony, ranging from per se inadmissibility to case-by-case reliability analysis. Some states have enacted specific statutes governing hypnotic interviews of witnesses, including procedural safeguards such as recording requirements. Researchers should not assume uniform treatment across jurisdictions or time periods.

HYPNOTISMmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

Artificial catalepsy; induced somnambulism; a method of arti- ficially inducing sleep; artificial somnam- bulism. The following summary of the physical manifesta- tions accompanying hypnotism, is given in the In- ternational Cyclopædia: "This is a term invented by the late Mr. Braid. of Manchester, to designate certain phenomena of the nervous system which in many respects resemble those which are induced by animal magnetism, but which clearly arise from the physical and psychical condition of the patient, and not from any emana- tion proceeding from others. The following are the directions of Mr. Braid, for inducing the phenomena. and especially the peculiar sleep-like condition of hypnotism. Take a silver lancet-case, or other bright object, and hold it between the fingers of the left hand, about a foot from the eyes of the person experimented on, in such a position above the forehead as to produce the greatest strain on the eyes compatible with a steady fixed stare at the object. The patient must be directed to rivet his mind on the object at which he is gazing. His pupils will first contract, but soon dilate consider- ably; and if they are well dilated, the first and second fingers of the operator's right hand, ex- tended and a little separated, are carried from the object towards the eyes; the eyelids will most prob- ably close with a vibratory motion. After 10 or 15 seconds have elapsed, it will be found that the pa- tient retains his arms and legs in any position in which the operator places them. It will also be found that all the special senses, excepting sight, are at first extremely exalted, as also are the mus- cular sense, and the sensibility of heat and cold; but after a time the exaltation of function is followed by a state of depression far greater than the torpor of natural sleep. The patient is now thoroughly hypnotized. The rigidity of the muscles and the profound torpor of the nervous system may be in- stantly removed and an opposite condition induced by directing a current of air against the muscles which we wish to render limber, or the organ we wish to excite to action; and then by mere repose the senses will speedily regain their original condi- tion. If a current of air directed against the face is not sufficient to arouse the patient, pressure and friction should be applied to the eyelids, and the arm or leg sharply struck with an open hand. "From the the careful analysis of a large number of experiments Mr. Braid is led to the conclusion that by a continual fixation of the mental and visual eye upon an object, with absolute repose of body and general quietude, a feeling of stupor supervenes, which renders the patient liable to be readily af fected in the manner already described. As the experiment succeeds with the blind, he considers that it is not so much the optic, as the sentient, mo- tor, and sympathetic nerves, and the mind through which the impression is made. See Tuke's Sleep- walking and Hypnotism (1884). "Many of the minor operations of surgery have been performed on patients in the hypnotized state without pain, and hypnotism has been successfully employed as a therapeutic agent in numerous forms of disease, especially such as have their seat in the nervous system. An interesting memoir (a Hypnotic Therapeutics was published by Mr. Braid in the 17th volume of The Monthly Journal of Med- ical Science (1853)." Int. Cyc. sub v. A committee of the British Medical Association made a report to the annual meeting in 1892, in the course of which they say: "Test experiments which have been carried out by members of the committee have shown that this condition is attended by mental and physical phe nomena, and that these differ widely in different cases. "Among the mental phenomena are altered con- sciousness, temporary limitation of the will power. increased receptivity of suggestion from without. sometimes to the extent of producing passing delu sions, illusions, and hallucinations, an exalted con dition of the attention and post-hypnotic sugges tions. "Among the physical phenomena are vascular changes (such as flushings of the face and altered pulse rate), deepening of the respirations, increased frequency of deglutition, slight muscular tremors, inability to control suggested movements, altered muscular sense, anesthesia, modified power of muscular contraction, catalepsy, and rigidity, often intense. It must, however, be understood that all these mental and physical phenomena are rarely present in any one case. The committee takes this opportunity of pointing out that the term hypno- tism is somewhat misleading, inasmuch as sleep, as ordinarily understood, is not necessarily present. The committee are of opinion that, as a therapeutic agent, hypnotism is frequently effective in relieving pain, procuring sleep, and alleviating many fune tional ailments. As to its permanent efficacy in the treatment of drunkenness, the evidence before the committee is encouraging, but not concl

HYPNOTISMmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

ical practitioners are not more familiar with its use than are any other class of scientists, and it would be unsafe for the legislature to assume the existence of a monopoly of virtue among medical men. A very decided inclination towards the views thus summarized will be found among legal minds directed to the subject, as also a very weighty, if not the prepond- erance of, scientific opinion. The view that the commission of crime cannot be procured by hypnotic suggestion unless in the case of a person whose moral character is such that he might do the act in a normal state, will be found well reasoned and stated in a paper on Hypnotism and Crime; 13 Med. Leg. J. 240, to which reference may be made for authorities and opinions of great value. Dr. Cocke, an investigator of rec- ognized authority, concludes that there are few cases in which the hypnotized sub- ject will not refuse to do a wrong act or to submit to a wrong, no matter if it be sug- gested; 18 Crim. L. Mag. 100. Considering the vast amount of discussion which this subject has evoked, it is surpris- ing to find upon how slight a basis of actual legal proceedings it rests. Cases seriously discussed are found upon examination to have no connection with the subject. Two cases in Europe have been much commented on in connection with hypno- tism. The first of these, the Bompard case, excited such wide attention that the main facts of it are generally understood and the details of it were much confused by the theatrical accessories to the trial in the French courts. The effort was made to show that a murder was the result of hyp- notic suggestion, and it is believed to be the general impression of those who have examined the case that that was, to a greater or less extent, an element in the crime. The character of the trial, how- ever, greatly lessens its value as a factor in reaching conclusions either valuable or ac- curate. There was also so wide a differ- ence of opinion among the experts that it has been very truly remarked: "This trial does not, therefore, clear the air of the difficulties of the medico-legal inquiry, whether crime can be committed by the suggestion of the hypnotizer, of which the actor;" id. 353. For report of the case see subject is the innocent and also unconscious Jurid. Rev. Jan. 1890; see also Int. Cyc. N. Y. 1893, p. 763. Considerable research has failed to discover any other case involv- ing the direct question. The Czynski case, at Munich, seems to be the only authentic one in which a convic- tion of hypnotism was really secured. The prisoner was charged with having had re- course to hypnotic suggestions in order to win the affections of a woman of high social position and to obtain her consent to live with him in illicit intercourse, and, subsequently, after he had subjected her to his will. to inveigle her into a false marriage performed by a friend of the prisoner who personated a priest. The accused had given public exhibitions of his hypnotic powers in Dresden and claimed to be able to treat maladies by touching with his hands the parts of the body affected while the patient was in a hypnotized state. His arrest and trial in 1894 created a profound sensation throughout Europe. He was convicted and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. For a full report of the trial, see 14 Med. Leg. J. 150. The Kansas case of State v. Gray was reported and extensively commented upon by the newspaper press and some influen- tial legal journals (51 Alb. L. J. 87 and 3 Am Lawy. 3) as having turned upon the ground of hypnotic influence, but this was clearly a misrepresentation, the actual de- cision being that one who aids, abets, coun- sels, or assists in the commission of a crime is equally guilty as one who actually com- mits the same 39 Pac. Rep. 1050. One of the journals cited supra in a subsequent issue corrected its error as to the facts of that case and published a letter from the trial judges which states that, "The ques- tion of hypnotism was never raised, never insisted upon, either in the evidence, the

HYPNOTISMmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

In medical jurisprudence. A psychic or mental state rendering the patient susceptible to suggestion at the will of another. The hypnotic state is an abnormal condition of the mind and senses, in the nature of tranc artificial catalepsy, or somnambulism, induc in one person by another, by concentration of the attention, a strong effort of volition, and perhaps the exercise of a telepathic power not as yet fully understood, or by mental suggestion, in which condition the mental processes of the subject and to a great extent his will are subjugated and directed by those of the operator.

HYPNOTISMn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

A form of sleep or somnambulism brought on by artificial means, in which there is an unusual suspension of some powers, and an unusual activity of others. It is induced by an action upon the nerves, through the medium of the senses, as in persons of very feeble organization, by gazing steadly at a very bright object held before the eyes, or by pressure upon certain points of the surface of the body.

hypnotismnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

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The art of inducing hypnosis.

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