[h] Flet. l. 1. c. 11. §. 10.
[] Dyer. 302. Hutt. 17. Noy 27.
[k] F.N.B. 232.
[l] 4 Rep. 126.
By the old common law there is a writ de idiota inquirendo, to enquire whether a man be an idiot or not[m]: which must be tried by a jury of twelve men; and if they find him purus idiota, the profits of his lands, and the custody of his person may be granted by the king to some subject, who has interest enough to obtain them[n]. This branch of the revenue hath been long considered as a hardship upon private families; and so long ago as in the 8 Jac. I. it was under the consideration of parliament, to vest this custody in the relations of the party, and to settle an equivalent on the crown in lieu of it; it being then proposed to share the same fate with the slavery of the feodal tenures, which has been since abolished[o]. Yet few instances can be given of the oppressive exertion of it, since it seldom happens that a jury finds a man an idiot a nativitate, but only non compos mentis from some particular time; which has an operation very different in point of law.
[m] F.N.B. 232.
[n] This power, though of late very rarely exerted, is still alluded to in common speech, by that usual expression of begging a man for a fool.
[o] 4. Inst. 203. Com. Journ. 1610.
A man is not an idiot[p], if he hath any glimmering of reason, so that he can tell his parents, his age, or the like common matters. But a man who is born deaf, dumb, and blind, is looked upon by the law as in the same state with an idiot[q]; he being supposed incapable of understanding, as wanting those senses which furnish the human mind with ideas.
[p] F.N.B. 233.