Manual of lunacy : a handbook relating to the legal care and treatment of the insane in the public and private asylums of Great Britain, Ireland, United States of America, and the Continent / [Lyttleton Stewart Forbes Winslow].

  • Winslow, Lyttleton Forbes, 1844-1913
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of lunacy : a handbook relating to the legal care and treatment of the insane in the public and private asylums of Great Britain, Ireland, United States of America, and the Continent / [Lyttleton Stewart Forbes Winslow]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    as no allusion to any prerogative of this nature can be found in Magna Charta ; and Bracton, who wrote in the reign of Henry III., does not mention it. We are informed by Meta that certain persons called Tutores used to have the custody of the lands idiotarum et stultorwm, and be states that in consequence of an abuse of their trust, a statute was made in the reign of Edward I., 1272, by which “ the custody of the persons and the inheritances idiotarum et stultorum, being such a nativitate, was given to the King, with a reservation to the lord of all his lawful claims for awards, relief, and the like.” This statute is not in print, but in the sub- sequent reign the Act “ De Prcerogativa Regis ” was passed, the ninth chapter of which enacts that “ the King shall have the custody of the lands of natural fools, taking the profits of them without waste or destruction, and shall find them with necessaries, of whose fee soever the lands be so holden ; and, after the death of such idiots, he shall render it to the right heirs ; so that such idiots shall not alien, nor their heir be disinherited.” Also, “ the King shall provide, when any that before- time hath had his wit and memory happen to fail of his wit, as there are many per lucida intervalla, that their lands and tenements shall be safely kept without waste and destruction, and that they and their household shall be maintained comfortably with the profits of the same ; and the residue shall be kept for their use, to be delivered unto them when they come to be of right mind.” By this it appears, that the duty of protecting all mentally afflicted devolved originally upon the King in his capacity as parcns-patrice. We perceive by this brief sketch that the object of the Legislature was to protect the person and property of lunatics, little if any attention being given to their medical or moral treatment. Wo have abundant evi- dence, that beforo asylums were founded, lunatics wore The person and property of the lunatics formerly in the hands of “ Tutores. ’ The King originally considered to be the protector of lunatics Lunatics subjected to cruelties in the olden tlmo.