3 & 4 VICT. c. 54. An Act for making further Provision for the [4th August, 1840. insane, two medical aid, such in WHEREAS it is expedient that further provision should be made for the confinement and maintenance of insane prisoners: be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, [that if Prisoners any person, while imprisoned in any prison or becoming other place of confinement under any sentence of justices may death, transportation, or imprisonment, or under inquire, with a charge of any offence, or for not finding bail for respecting good behaviour or to keep the peace or to answer a sanity; criminal charge, or in consequence of any summary conviction or order by any justice or justices of the peace, or under any other than civil process, shall appear to be insane, it shall be lawful for any two justices of the peace of the county, city, borough, or place where such person is imprisoned to inquire, with the aid of two physicians or surgeons, as to the insanity of such person; and if it shall if certified be duly certified by such justices and such phy- Secretary of sicians or surgeons that such person is insane, it State to shall be lawful for one of Her Majesty's principal rant for Secretaries of State, upon receipt of such certifi- lunatic cate, to direct, by warrant under his hand, that asylum. such person shall be removed to such county lunatic asylum or other proper receptacle for insane persons as the said Secretary of State may judge proper and appoint; and every person so removed under this Act, or already removed or in custody under any former Act relating to insane prisoners, shall remain under confinement in such county asylum or other proper receptacle as aforesaid, or to be insane, grant war removal to If after wards sane, dealt with. how to be in any other county lunatic asylum or other proper receptacle to which such person may be removed, or may have been already removed, or in which he may be in custody by virtue of any like order, until it shall be duly certified to one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, by two physicians or surgeons, that such person has become of sound mind, whereupon the said Secretary of State is hereby authorised, if such person shall still remain subject to be continued in custody, to issue his Warrant for warrant to the keeper or other person having the care of any such asylum or receptacle as aforesaid, prison, or to directing that such person shall be removed back from thence to the prison or other place of confinement from whence he or she shall have been taken, or, if the period of imprisonment or custody of such person shall have expired, that he or she shall be discharged.] removal back to discharge. Justices of the peace to inquire tlement of such pri soner, and on parish for make orders II. And be it enacted, that in all such cases as aforesaid, unless one of Her Majesty's principal into the set- Secretaries of State shall otherwise direct, it shall be lawful for such two justices, or any other two justices of the peace of the county, city, borough or place where such person is imprisoned, to inquire into and ascertain, by the best evidence or information that can be obtained under the circumstances, of the personal legal disability of such insane person, the place of the last legal settlement,3 and the pecuniary circumstances of such person; and if it shall maintenance, etc. 1 Repealed, and other provisions substituted, by 27 & 28 Vict. c. 29, s. 1, post, p. 581. But see Reg. v. Cobus, 1 Cox, C. C., 207; Reg. v. Dwerryhouse, 2 Cox, C. C., 291, 446; and Reg. v. Blackwell, 7 Cox, C. C., 353. 2 See 27 & 28 Vict. c. 29, s. 4, post, p. 584. 3 A lunatic wife being sent to an asylum under a warrant of the Secretary of State, and the husband being irremovable under 9 & 10 Vict. c. 66, it was held that, notwithstanding such irremovability, the order for the wife's maintenance in the asylum was properly made on the parish of the settlement, under 3 & 4 Vict. c. 54, s. 2; Reg. v. Bishopwearmouth, 23 J. P. 100 (see also Reg. v. Leaden Roothing, 12 Q. B. 181). 4 4 not appear that he or she is possessed of sufficient property which can be applied to his or her maintenance, it shall be lawful for such two justices, by order under their hands, to direct the overseers of the parish where they adjudge him or her to be lawfully settled, or in case such parish be comprised in a union declared by the Poor Law Commissioners, or shall be under the management of a board of guardians established by the Poor Law Commissioners, then the guardians of such union, or of such parish (as the case may be), to pay on behalf of such parish,5 in the case of any person removed under this Act, all reasonable charges for inquring into such person's insanity, and for conveying him or her to such county lunatic asylum or receptacle for insane persons, and to pay such weekly sum as they or any two justices shall, by writing under their hands, from time to time direct, for his or her maintenance in such asylum or receptacle in which he or she shall be confined; 6 and in the case of any person removed under any former Act relating to insane prisoners, to pay such weekly sum as they or any two such justices as aforesaid shall, by writing under their hands, from time to time direct, for his or her maintenance in the asylum or receptacle in which he or she is confined; and when the place of When setsettlement cannot be ascertained, such order shall be found, order made upon the treasurer of the county, city, borough, to be made or place where such person shall have been im- of county. prisoned; but if it shall appear, upon inquiry, to In case the the said or any other two justices of the county, city, possessed of borough, or place where such person is imprisoned, property, it that any such person is possessed of property, such applied property shall be applied for or towards the expenses towards the incurred or to be hereafter incurred on his or her behalf, and they shall from time to time, by order 4 See note 3 on preceding page. 5 See 27 & 28 Vict. c. 29, s. 5, post, p. 584; which transfers the charge to the common fund, in the case of a parish comprised in a union formed under 4 & 5 Wm. iv. c. 76. 6 See also 23 & 24 Vict. c. 75, s. 10, post, p. 576. tlement not on treasurer shall be is expense. Persons charged with mis acquitted on under their hands, direct the overseers of any parish where any money or securities for money, goods, chattels, lands, or tenements of such person shall be, to seize so much of the said money, or to seize and sell so much of the said goods and chattels, or receive so much of the annual rent of the lands or tenements of such person, as may be necessary to pay the charges, if any, of inquiring into such person's insanity, and of removal, and also the charges of maintenance, clothing, medicine, and care of any such insane person, accounting for the same at the next special petty sessions of the division, city, or borough in which such order shall have been made, such charges having been first proved to the satisfaction of such justices, and the amount thereof being set forth in such order.2 III. And whereas it is expedient that the same provision should be made with regard to persons demeanors, charged with misdemeanors as is made with regard the ground to persons charged with treason, murder or felony, of insanity, by virtue of an Act passed in the session holden in in custody. the thirty-ninth and fortieth years of the reign of may be kept 1 See 27 & 28 Vict. c. 29, s. 5, post, p. 584; which substitutes the guardians of the union for the overseers of the parish, with respect to any parish comprised in a union formed under 4 & 5 Wm. iv. c. 76. 2S being about to be tried on a charge of murder, conveyed an estate in the township of H to trustees upon certain trusts, subject to a previous mortgage to L, and was afterwards acquitted on the ground of insanity. L then sold the estate, and after satisfying the mortgage debt and costs, there remained a balance of £100 in his hands. S. having been sent to a lunatic asylum under a warrant of the Secretary of State, an order for his maintenance was made under 3 & 4 Vict. c. 54, s. 2; and the overseers of Hthereupon obtained an order, under the last clause of the same section, for reimbursement out of the lunatic's estate, and demanded the balance in L's hands, which he refused to pay over. Held that this order could not be enforced, the enactment being inapplicable to the recovery of money under such circumstances. In re Simpson's Trust Estate, ex parte the Overseers of Old Hutton; 20 L. J. R. (N. s.) M. C. 231; 18 Q. B. 77; 15 Jur. 754. King George the Third, intituled "An Act for the 39 & 40 Geo. safe Custody of Insane Persons charged with Of. iii. c. 94. fences;"3 be it therefore enacted, that in all cases where it shall be given in evidence upon the trial of any person charged with any misdemeanor that such person was insane at the time of the commission of such offence, and such person shall be acquitted, the jury shall be required to find specially whether such person was insane at the time of the commission of such offence, and to declare whether such person was acquitted by them on account of such insanity; and if they shall find that such person was insane at the time of the committing such offence the court before whom such trial shall be had shall order such person to be kept in strict custody, in such place and in such manner as to the court shall seem fit, until Her Majesty's pleasure shall be known; and it shall thereupon be lawful for Her Majesty to give such order for the safe custody of such person, during Her pleasure, in such place and in such manner as to Her Majesty shall seem fit; and in all cases where any person before the passing of this Act has been acquitted of any such offence on the ground of insanity at the time of the commission thereof, and has been detained in custody as a dangerous person by order of the court before whom such person has been tried, and still remains in custody, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to give the like order for the safe custody of such person during Her pleasure as Her Majesty is hereby enabled to give in the case of any person who shall hereafter be acquitted on the ground of insanity; and in all such cases any Like powers two justices of the peace of the county, city, or place before menwhere such person shall have been acquitted on tioned for 4 3 39 & 40 Geo. iii. c. 94, s. 1, ante, p. 552. 4 This appears to mean, "all cases of persons charged with misdemeanor, as aforesaid;" and not to include the cases of treason, murder, or felony, referred to in the former Act; which, however, contains no similar provision with regard to the maintenance of the lunatic. But see s. 7 of the present Act, post, p. 566. as in cases inquiring |