ABSTRACT
The matters to be discussed in this chapter are complex and I have, of necessity, had to over-simplify some issues. In order to begin to understand them one requires some acquaintance with the disciplines of ethics, law and psychiatry. The complexity of the material is further compounded by the manner in which certain terms are used, often synonymously, by a wide range of people. For this reason, it will be necessary to comment on the meaning of words such as responsibility, capacity, culpability and liability. For people are frequently like Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty, who, it will be remembered, said, 'in rather a scornful tone', 'when I use a word ... it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less' (Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 6).
