Any person who makes a wilful misstatement of any
material fact in any medical or other certificate,
or in any statement or report of bodily or mental
condition under this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
Orders after Inquisition.—This constitutes a legal investigation as to whether or not a person is capable of managing his or her own affairs, and whether restraint is necessary. It is conducted before a judge, with a jury if the alleged lunatic demand one, unless the judge is satisfied by personal examination that the lunatic is not mentally competent to understand the demand for a jury. In such a case the medical man is only concerned as a witness.
According to circumstances the alleged lunatic may be kept under restraint, or remain at liberty with the control of his or her affairs under a “Committee of Estate”; or, if declared sane, set free and with control of his estate.
Summary Reception Orders.—When a lunatic is not under proper control, and if without relations or friends, and there be no one who will sign a petition for detention, or when a lunatic is uncared for, cruelly treated, and is found so by a medical practitioner, his duty is to inform a constable, relieving officer, or overseer of the parish of the fact. The official will then make a statement on oath to a Judicial Authority, who will direct two medical practitioners to make the necessary examinations, and if satisfied he will issue an order for the removal of the individual to an asylum. The procedure followed will then be the same as for a “petition for reception.” Under a summary reception order the Judicial Authority may place the person under the care of a relation or friend, or the visitors of the asylum in which the person is intended to be, or is placed.
Lunatics Wandering at Large.—Every constable, relieving officer, or overseer of a parish who knows of a person, whether pauper or not, who is deemed to be a lunatic and wandering at large, shall apprehend and take such person before a Justice, or if the Justice receive information on oath, he may have the person apprehended and brought before him. The Justice has the person medically examined, and if certified a lunatic to the satisfaction of the Justice, he may issue an order for detention; if the medical man certify that the person is not fit for removal, the removal is postponed until the person is certified fit for it.
The above proceedings are not necessary if it be considered a matter of public safety and for the good of the alleged lunatic that immediate detention be carried out. The constable, relieving officer, or overseer of the parish may remove such person to the workhouse of the union in which the person is, and detain him for not more than three days. Before the expiration of that time the necessary proceedings under the Lunacy Act must be taken.
Reception Order by two Commissioners.—Any two or more Commissioners in Lunacy may visit a pauper lunatic or an alleged lunatic not detained in a workhouse or lunatic asylum, and if satisfied after certification by a medical man that the person is a lunatic, order removal to an asylum.
Pauper Lunatics.—A medical officer of a Poor Law Union who has knowledge that a pauper within his district is alleged to be a lunatic, shall notify the relieving officer or overseer of the parish where the pauper resides of the fact, who within three days shall notify a Justice, who will interview the alleged lunatic and call in a medical practitioner to examine and certify. If the Justice be satisfied that the person be a lunatic, he makes an order for removal to an asylum. One medical certificate only is necessary.
Escape of Lunatics.—An escaped lunatic may be retaken at any time within fourteen days without a fresh order.