Outward relations

[Johnyxxx]

Hello,

Can anybody tell me what the phraze "outward relations" means?

In 1925, Isom Bradley rose late at night in his Texas home, apparently due to a lucid dream that an intruder was present, and fired several shots; when he awoke, he found he’d shot his girlfriend. With a similar, medically-vague sleepwalking defense, Bradley was exonerated by the court, which set the following precedent:“Somnambulist [sleepwalker] does not enjoy the free and rational exercise of his understandings and is more or less unconscious of his outward relations; none of his acts can rightfully be imputed to him as crimes.”

What Happens If You Commit a Murder While Sleepwalking? by Zachary Crockett

Thanks a lot.

 

[GoesStation]

Bearing in mind that the text was written ninety years ago, I understand it to mean that the judge believed the defendant was not aware of what was going on outside his own mind.