Joanna Gordon, Otherwise Countess of Stair
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 22 January 1847 |
| Date | 22 January 1847 |
| Court | High Court of Chancery |
English Reports Citation: 41 E.R. 935
HIGH COURT OF CHANCERY
[242] In the Matter of joanna gordon, otherwise countess of stair. Jan. 22, 1847. The Lord Chancellor will not in general supersede a commission of lunacy after verdict, without seeing the lunatic. A commission cannot be superseded as to the person of the lunatic, and at the same time continued in force as against the parties accountable for the lunatic's estate. But a lunatic who has recovered will be allowed, without superseding the commission, to have the control of his fortune, and to superintend the prosecution of accounts against accounting parties without the intervention of the committee. In this matter an order had been made, in the year 1844, that the brother of the lunatic, who had for many years acted as committee of her estate, and who was represented to have had, for a considerable length of time, a large amount of her property in his hands without rendering any account, should be discharged from his office, and should pass his accounts; and another person had been appointed committee in his place. In the month of July 1845, and before those accounts had been taken, the lunatic, having made great progress towards recovery, obtained leave from the Lord Chancellor to go and reside in Scotland, the place of her birth, where she was to be free from control as to her person and the selection and appointment of her servants and attendants, security being given by the committee of her person that she should be forthcoming and amenable to the orders of the Court when required. She now presented a petition, supported by strong affidavits of Scotch physicians as to her complete recovery, praying, among other things, that the commission might be superseded without prejudice to the accounts directed by the former order, and which were still pending, and that she might be at liberty to prosecute those accounts by her own solicitor. She also prayed that, in consideration of her advanced age (being seventy-five years old), her personal attendance, for the purpose of having the commission superseded, might be dispensed with. [243] Mr. James Parker and Mr. Roundell Palmer, for the Petitioner. Mr. Romilly and Mr. Willcock, for the brother. Mr. Teed and Mr. Dickenson, for the existing committee of the estate. On the part of the Petitioner, it was stated that, notwithstanding the comparative freedom from constraint which she enjoyed under...
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