Lunacy Act 1891
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1891 c. 65 |
| Year | 1891 |
Lunacy Act, 1891,
(54 & 55 Vict.) CHAPTER 65.
An Act to amend the Lunacy Act, 1890.
[5th August 1891]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theLunacy Act, 1891,and this Act shall be construed as one with the Lunacy Act, 1890(in this Act called the principal Act), and this Act and the principal Act may be cited together as the Lunacy Acts, 1890 and 1891.
2 Provisions as to relieving officers.
(1)2.—(1.) A constable, relieving officer, or overseer whose duty it is, under the principal Act, to convey a lunatic to or from an institution for lunatics, may make proper arrangements for the performance of the duty by some other person or persons.
(2) (2.) Where in a union there are two or more relieving officers, and the guardians, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, direct one relieving officer to discharge throughout the union the duties of a relieving officer in respect of lunatics, every other relieving officer in the union shall inform the officer so directed of any case of a lunatic, with which it would otherwise devolve upon such other relieving officer to deal, and it shall be the duty of the relieving officer receiving such information to deal with the case, and the other relieving officer shall be discharged from any further duty in the matter.
3 Classification of lunatics received under ss. 13, 16, of principal Act.
3. A lunatic sent to an institution for lunatics under section thirteen or sixteen of the principal Act shall be classified as a pauper, until it is ascertained that he is entitled to be classified as a private patient.
4 Amendments of 53 & 54 Vict. c. 5. section 24.
(1)4.—(1.) Every pauper suffering from mental disease in a workhouse at the commencement of the principal Act, as to whom a report had before the commencement of the principal Act been made under section twenty-two of the Poor Law Amendment, Act, 1867 , may be detained in the workhouse against his will without an order under section twenty-four of the principal Act.
(2) (2.) The medical superintendent of an asylum provided under the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867 , shall not be required in any certificate under sub-section one of section twenty-four of the principal Act, or under this Act, to certify to the effect in sub-clause (c ) of that sub-section mentioned, and upon the transfer from a workhouse to an asylum provided under the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867, of a lunatic, with regard to whom a certificate or order under the said section twenty-four made while he was in the workhouse is in force, no further certificate or order shall be required for the detention of the lunatic in the asylum,
5 Medical certificates.
5. There shall be attached to every order made by a justice under section twenty-four of the principal Act the medical certificates on which such order is founded.
6 section 27.
6. Where a workhouse is situate in a county which does not include the union to which the workhouse belongs, a summary reception order made by a justice of the county in which the workhouse is situate may order a lunatic in the workhouse to be received in any asylum, in which pauper lunatics chargeable to the union, to which the workhouse belongs, may legally be received.
7 section 38 \(4).
7. Subsection four of section thirty-eight of the principal Act is hereby repealed, and the following subsection is substituted therefor:—
(4) (4.) A reception order shall remain in force for a year after the date by this Act or by an order of the Commissioners appointed for it to expire, and thereafter for two years, and thereafter for three years, and after the end of such periods of one, two, and three years for successive periods of five years, if not more than one month nor less than seven days before the expiration of the period at the end of which, as fixed by this Act or by an order of the Commissioners under subsection two, the order would expire, and of each subsequent period of one, two, three, and five years respectively, a special report of the medical officer of the institution or of the medical attendant of the single patient as to the mental and bodily condition of the patient with a certificate under his hand certifying that the patient is still of unsound mind and a proper person to be detained under care and treatment is sent to the Commissioners.
8 section 39.
8. Section thirty-nine of the principal Act shall not apply to lunatics received under a removal order or to lunatics so found by inquisition.
9 section 55.
(1)9.—(1.) In subsection three (a ) of section fifty-five of the principal Act the words ‘or to travel in England’ shall be inserted after the word ‘place.’
(2) (2.) In sub-section six of section fifty-five of the principal Act, for the words ‘licensed by visitors’ shall be substituted the words ‘licensed by justices,’ and for the words ‘the Commissioners or visitors’ shall be substituted the words ‘such Commissioner or such two visitors.’
10 section 56 \(3).
10. In subsection three of section fifty-six of the principal Act the words ‘or permit the patient to be absent upon trial for such period as may be thought fit’ shall be added after the word ‘health’ at the end of the subsection.
11 section 61 \(1).
11. In subsection one of section sixty-one of the principal Act the words ‘to the workhouse of the union to which the lunatic is chargeable, or if the lunatic is chargeable to a county or borough, to the workhouse of the union from which he was sent to the hospital or licensed house’ shall be inserted after the words ‘of the lunatic.’
12 Hospitals may alter regulations.
12. The managing committee of every hospital may, with the approval of a Secretary of State, alter the regulations of the hospital.
13 Boroughs annexed to counties under s. 246 to contribute to expense of asylum.
(1)13.—(1.) Where under section two hundred and forty-six of the principal Act, a borough ceases to be a local authority under that Act, the borough shall for all purposes of that Act be annexed to and treated as part of the county in which the borough is situate, and if or so far as the borough has not contributed towards the expense of providing the asylum of the county, a sum to be paid by the borough towards the expenses already incurred in providing the asylum shall be fixed by agreement between the councils of the county and borough, or in default of agreement by an arbitrator appointed by the parties, or, if the parties cannot agree upon an arbitrator, by an arbitrator appointed by the Local Government Board. In fixing the sum to be paid by the borough, the borough shall be credited with any sums already contributed by the borough for lunacy purposes in excess of its legal liability; and the arbitrator shall take into consideration the amounts that may have been paid by the borough for the reception or maintenance, in the asylum of the county, of the lunatics of the borough.
(2) (2.) Where a borough had before the passing of this Act, by virtue of section eighty-six of the Local Government Act, 1888 , and the determination of any contract, become liable to contribute to the county rate of the county in respect of a lunatic asylum, this section shall apply to such borough as if it had immediately after the passing of this Act ceased under section two hundred and forty-six of the principal Act, to be a local authority.
To continue reading
Request your trial