Judging by the results, it does seem that there was a gap between a juridical theory of madness, which was sufficiently elaborate to discern, with the help of medical science, the limits and forms of madness, and a repressive social practice which understood it in a far less sophisticated manner, almost a police practice, and used the varieties of confinement that were already in place for repressive purposes, neglecting to follow the subtle distinctions that were provided for in judicial arbitration.