Campbell, Jean

Alias Jean Bruce; never received any education. Accused and tried in 1817 for drunkedly throwing her 3-year-old off a bridge and drowning the child, her case created British legal history two ways: it raised the legal question of whether an uneducated non-speaking deaf person could be held responsible for crimes, and it set a precedent overturning centuries of British legal custom of not allowing deaf persons to give testimony in court. It also marked the first time in legal history anywhere that a person was appointed by a court specifically for the purpose of acting as an impartial interpreter for the deaf. Campbell was acquitted of the charge and released.