Lunacy law : the statutes relating to private lunatics, pauper lunatics, criminal lunatics, commissions of lunacy, public and private asylums and the commissioners in lunacy / with an introductory commentary, notes to the Statutes, references to cases decided in the superior courts, and a copious index by Danby P. Fry ; edited by George F. Chambers.

  • Fry, Danby P. (Danby Palmer), 1818-1903.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lunacy law : the statutes relating to private lunatics, pauper lunatics, criminal lunatics, commissions of lunacy, public and private asylums and the commissioners in lunacy / with an introductory commentary, notes to the Statutes, references to cases decided in the superior courts, and a copious index by Danby P. Fry ; edited by George F. Chambers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    PAET IV. The Commissioneks in Lunacy. By the first Act for regulating madhouses (14 Geo. III. c. 49), passed in 1774, the College of Physicians was required to elect five Fellows to act as Commissioners for licensing and inspecting these establishments within the cities of London and Westminster, and seven miles thereof, and the county of Middlesex; the duties of licensing and visiting in the rest of the country being confided to the justices of the peace. This Act (a tem- porary one) was continued by 19 Geo. III. c. 15, and 26 Geo. III. c. 91; but repealed in 1828 by 9 Geo. IV. c. 41, in consequence of the Keport of the Committee of the House of Commons in 1827. The last mentioned Act (limited to three years) empowered the Home Secretary to appoint every year fifteen Commissioners (five being physicians) for licensing and visiting within the Metropo- politan district; and in 1832, on the expiration of 9 Geo. IV. c. 41, an Act was passed (2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 107), which authorised the Lord Chancellor to appoint annually the Metropolitan Commissinners in Lunacy. That Act, passed for three years, was amended, and renewed by 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 64; 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 22; 1 & 2 Vict, c. 73; 5 Vict. c. 4; and 5 & 6 Vict. c. 87; and by the last-named Act, passed in 1842, the Metropolitan Com- missioners were empowered to inspect all the public and private asylums throughout England and Wales. All these Acts were repealed in 1845 by 8 & 9 Vict. c. 100, which constituted the Board of Commissioners in Lu- nacy. This Act was itself repealed by the Lunacy Act, 1890, but all its salient features of departmental control over lunatics have been re-enacted. By the Act of 1845, eleven Commissioners were ap- pointed by name, three of whom were physicians, and three barristers—future vacancies to be tilled up by the Lord Chancellor. The medical and legal Commissioners are paid; as also the secretary and clerks; but the per-