A letter to the Right Honorable Spencer H. Walpole, M.P., &c., &c. Chairman of the Select Committee on Lunatics / [John Charles Bucknill].

  • Bucknill, John Charles, 1817-1897.
Date:
[1860]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Right Honorable Spencer H. Walpole, M.P., &c., &c. Chairman of the Select Committee on Lunatics / [John Charles Bucknill]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    was, I believe, actually presented, but was subsequently withdrawn. The experience of the Court of Chancery must have amply proved to all the learned judges who have presided there, that whatever value evidence given on affidavit may possess in matters of fact, in matters of opinion it is of little worth ; and hence it occurs that this kind of evidence so completely fails to enlighten the Court upon the real state of mind of an alleged lunatic. It is really astonishing what liberties people take in evidence of this kind, not perhaps so much in the absolute statement of falsehood as in the suppression of truth ; but positive untruthfulness also is rife to a degree which cannot be excused on the ground of ignorance, al¬ though this also is a prolific source of misrepresentation. A large proportion of the mass of affidavits filed on an opposed petition, will be found to be those of persons quite incapable, from want of mental culture, of forming an opinion on a question of mental sanity. Some ignorance however is less excusable ; for I have heard even professional men aver that in conversations with supposed lunatics, on which they have subsequently given evidence, they have carefully avoided dangerous topics. The result is confessed in the law which refers the final decision in all cases to an oral enquiry, and in the practice of the Court which refers the conflicting statements of one-sided affidavits to the arbitrament of an impartial medical examination. What I recommend, therefore, is : 1st. That a petition in lunacy shall, when filed, only be accompanied by such affidavits as may be deemed sufficient to establish the bona fides of the petition, and the right of the petitioner to present it, and prima facie to establish a ground for the enquiry, and to afford such information as may be needful to instruct the Court and its officers respecting the history and circumstances of the alleged lunatic. 2nd. That after due notice to the alleged lunatic, the Physician of the Court, shall be ordered to institute a thorough