The manager of a lunatic institution or the person in charge of a single patient is guilty of a misdemeanour if he omits to perform any of the foregoing duties.
Urgency cases of urgency where it is expedient either for the welfare of a person (not a pauper) alleged to be a lunatic, or for the public safety, that the alleged lunatic shall be forthwith placed under care and treatment, he may be received and detained in an institution for lunatics, or as a single patient, upon an urgency order made (if possible) by the husband or wife, or by a relative of the alleged lunatic, accompanied by one medical certificate. This order can be signed before or after the medical certificate. If not signed by the husband or wife, or by a relative, it should state the reason why, and should also give an account of the connection with the alleged lunatic of the person who signs it, and of the circumstances under which he signs. He must be of at least twenty one years of age and have seen the lunatic within two days of so signing the order. An urgency order, which can be made either before or after the presen tation of a petition, only remains in force for seven days from its date. But if a petition is pending, it remains in force until the petition is finally disposed of. A statement of particulars should be annexed to it.
Summary 1?eception Orders.—A justice who has authority in lunacy can visit any person not a pauper, and not wandering at large, upon information upon oath that lie is deemed to be a lunatic, and is not under proper care and control, or is being cruelly treated or neglected by any relative or person having charge of him ; and he may direct any two medical practitioners to %isit and examine the alleged lunatic, and to certify their opinion as to his mental state. The lunatic, when so found, may be ordered by the justice to be received and detained in any institution for lunatics to which, if a pauper, he might be sent under the Act, and the constable or relieving officer upon whose information the order has been made, or any constable whom the justice may require so to do, niust forthwith con vey the lunatic to the institution named in the order. Pauper lunatics comewithin section 14, which provides that every medical officer of a union who has knowledge that a pauper resident within his district is, or is deemed to be, a lunatic, and a proper person to be sent to an asylum, must, within three days after obtaining such knowledge, give a written notice thereof to the district relieving officer, or if there is no such officer, then to an overseer of the parish where the pauper resides. Every such relieving officer or overseer who has knowledge, either by notice from a medical officer or otherwise, that any such pauper is deemed to be a lunatic, is required, within three days after obtaining such knowledge, to give notice thereof to a local justice, and the latter must order the relieving officer or overseer to bring the alleged lunatic before a justice within three days from the time at which he received the notice. Any one wandering at large, whether he is a pauper or not, may be apprehended by any constable, overseer, or relieving officer of the parish or district in which he is wandering, and be taken before a justice ; but the officer who arrests him must first know that he is considered to be a lunatic. The justice before whom is brought a pauper alleged to be a lunatic,
or an alleged wandering lunatic, is required to call in a medical practitioner and examine the alleged lunatic. If the justice considers the lunacy to be proved, and the medical practitioner gives a certificate of lunacy, the justice must direct the lunatic to be received and detained in a lunatic institution. Two or more Commissioners have power to visit a pauper, and if they consider him a lunatic to send him to an institution. Requirements and Duration qf Reception Orders.— Sections 28 to 37 attach still further formalities to reception orders, and so tend to prevent any abuse of the lunacy law in the form of unwarranted detention and restraint of the person. For one thing, the medical certificate, upon which such a reception order is founded, must be signed by a duly qualified medical practitioner. It must also state the facts upon which he has given his certificate, distinguishing facts he has observed by himself from those communicated by others. It must also contain a statement that it is expedient for the public safety, or for the welfare of the alleged lunatic himself, that he should be placed under care and treatment, with the reasons for such statements. A certificate so made is available for evidence as if it had been made on oath. A medical practitioner who signs any such certificate must have personally examined the alleged lunatic not more than seven clear days before the date of the presentation of the petition, or of the order if there is no petition. Where two doctors are required to certify, they must have separately examined the alleged lunatic. In the case of an urgency order the doctor must have made his personal examination not more than two clear days before the reception of the alleged lunatic. The certificate must not be signed by a doctor who is the petitioner, or the person signing the urgency order, or the husband or wife, father or father-in-law, mother or mother-in-law, son or son-in law, daughter or daughter-in-law, brother or brother-in-law, sister or sister-in law, partner or assistant of such petitioner or person. One of the certificates, when practicable, must be under the hand of the usual medical attendant of the alleged lunatic, and if this cannot be, the petitioner must state the reason in writing. No one may be received or detained as a lunatic or single patient in a lunatic institution when any certificate which accompanies the reception order has been signed by any of the following persons :—(a) the manager of the insti tution, or the person who is to have charge of the single patient ; (b) any person interested in the payments or accounts of the patient ; (c) any regular medical attendant in the institution ; (d) any of certain near relatives, by blood or mar riage, of the foregoing persons.