Some recent acts have made alterations in the proceedings under commissions of lunacy.
An act of the 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 36, is entitled An Act to diminish the Incon veniences and Expenses of Commissions in the Nature of Writs De Lunatico In quirendo; and to provide for the better Care and Treatment of Idiots, Lunatics, and Persons of Unsound Mind, found such by Inquisition.' An act of the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 84, is en titled 'An Act to alter and amend the Practice and Course of Proceeding under Commissions in the Nature of Writs De Lunatico Inquirendo.' The first section empowers the Lord Chancellor to appoint two serjeants or barristers at law, to be called The Commissioners in Lunacy and enacts that in future all Commissions in the nature of Writs De lunatico inquirendo shall be directed to such commissioners, and that such Commissioners shall jointly and severally have and execute all the' powers, duties, and authorities now had and executed by commissioners named in commissions in the nature of Writs De lunatico inquirendo. The commissioners (§ 2) are to conduct all inquiries with respect to Lunatics and their estates in such manner as the Lord Chancellor shall from time to time direct ; and it is provided that nothing in this act shall prevent the Chancellor from issuing any commission in the nature of a writ De luuatico inquirendo, addressed to any fit or proper person or persons, in addition to the Commissioners in Lunacy.
§ 3 empowers the Chancellor to refer to the Commissioners in Lunacy, or either of them, any of the inquiries and matters connected with the persons and estates of Lunatics which arc usually referred to the Masters iu Ordinary in Chancery ; and § 4 makes the Commissioners in Lunacy visitors, under the direction of the Chancellor, of all persons found idiot, lunatic, or of unsound mind, by inqui sition, jointly with the three visitors ap pointed by the 3 & 4 Wu!. IV. c.
§ 7 empowers the Chancellor from time to time to regulate the form and mode of proceeding before and by the said commissioners, and the practice in matters in Lunacy ; and to regulate the number of jurymen to be sworn to try inquests on Commissions in the nature of Writs De lunatico inquirendo; but it is provided that every inquisition on such commission shall be found by the oaths of twelve men.
By the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 100, § 2, the two commissioners of lunacy are henceforth to be called Masters in Lunacy. and take the same rank and precedence as the masters in ordinary of the High Court of Chancery. Some other regulations as to the duties of the masters in lunacy are contained in 8 & 9 Vict. c. 100, § 95-98.
The other sections of the act 5 & 6 Viet. c. 84, make regulations as to fees and other matters, for which the act must be consulted. The salary of the commis sioners is 20001. a-year, free from all taxes or abatement.
The term Lunatic is only properly ap plied to a person who is found to he a lunatic by the verdict of a jury under an inquisition, as already explained. But the term lunatic is also applied to those who, being considered lunatics, are con fined in lunatic asylums or hospitals, under such regulations as the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 100, prescribe, without having been found lunatics under an inquisition ; and also to any single patient who is boarded or lodged for pay as a lunatic in a house not licensed under the act, 90; and also to any person who is under the care of any person who receives or takes the charge of such one lunatic only, and derives no profit from the charge (§ 112). As to the persons and property
of such so-called lunatics, who have not been found lunatic by a jury, the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 100, § 94, enacts, That whenever the commissioners in lunacy shall have reason to suppose that the property of any person detained or taken charge of as a lunatic is not dilly protected, or that the income thereof is not duly applied for his maintenance, such commissioners shall make such inquiries relative thereto as they shall think proper, and report them to the lord chancellor. § 98 enacts, That when any person shall have been received or taken charge of as a lunatic upon an order and certificate, or an order and certificate under the provisions of that act, and shall either have been detained as a lunatic for the twelve months then last past, or shall have been the subject of a report by the commissioners in lunacy in pursuance of ˘ 94, the lord chancellor shall direct one of the masters in lunacy to inquire and report to him as to the lunacy of such person so confined, and the chancellor is authorised to make orders for the appointment of a guardian or otherwise for the protection, care, and management of such lunatic, and such guardian is to share the same powers and authorities as a committee of theperson of a lunatic found such by inquisition now has, and to appoint a receiver or otherwise for the care and management of the estate of such lunatic, and such receiver is to have the same powers as a receiver of the estate of a lunatic found such by inquisition now has ; and the chancellor is also empowered to make orders for the application of the income of the lunatic towards his maintenance, and the cost of the care and management of his person and estate, and also as to the investment or other application for the purpose of accumulation of the over ; but such protection, care, and management are only to continue so long as such lunatic shall continue to be detained as a lunatic upon such order or certificate as aforesaid, and such further time, not exceeding six months, as the chancellor may fix ; but the chancellor may in any such case, either before or after directing such inquiry, and whether the master shall have made such inquiry or not, direct a commission in the nature of a Writ De lunatico inquirendo to issue, to inquire of the lunacy of such person.
In the Roman system, persons of un sound mind (furiosi) might be deprived of the management of their property on application to the praetor by his next of kin. This legislation was either intro duced or established by the Twelve Tables. The person who had the care of the lunatic and of his property was called a curator [CURATOR]. The Twelve Tables gave the care of the lunatic to his aguati. In those cases where the law had not provided for the appointment of a curator, the praetor named one. (Dig. 27, tit. 10; Instil 1, tit. 23.; On the general subject see Stock On the Law of Non Compotes Mentis ; and Collinson On Lunacy.