Isaac Ray

When this venture failed, he moved to the coastal village of Eastport, where he practiced, taught, and wrote his Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity, published in 1838.

Before Butler Hospital received patients in 1847, Ray toured the asylums of Europe, reporting his findings in the American Journal of Insanity.

[2] The Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity was very influential and was deployed effectively by defense lawyer Sir Alexander Cockburn in the English trial of Daniel M'Naghten in 1843.

[3] In 1868, the Superintendents’ Association adopted his "Project of a Law," which recommended statutory enactment to secure the rights of the mentally ill and define the civil and criminal relationships of the insane.

It is an annual award that recognizes a person who has made outstanding contributions to forensic psychiatry or psychiatric jurisprudence.