Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1857 c. 71 |
| Year | 1857 |
(20 & 21 Vict.) C A P. LXXI.
[25th August 1857]
'WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Fifty-fifth Year of the Reign of KingGeorge the Third, intituled Scotland; and another Act was passed in the Ninth Year of the Reign of KingGeorge the Fourth, intituled Scotland;’ and another Act was passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the Fourth and Fifth Years of the Reign of Her Majesty, intituled Scotland,and to provide for the Custody of dangerous Lunatics ; and it is expedient that the said recited Acts be repealed, and that more efficient Provision be made for the Care and Treatment of Lunatics, and for the Provision, Maintenance, and Regulation of Lunatic Asylums in Scotland :' 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:
I Recited Acts repealed.
I. From and after the First Day ofJanuary One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, the recited Acts shall be and are hereby repealed.
II Officers to continue till recalled, and Orders made under the repealed Acts to be good.
II. The Inspectors, Medical Officers, and all other Officers or Servants appointed under or in virtue of the recited Acts, or any of them, shall continue to discharge the Duties of their respective Offices until they shall be re-appointed, or superseded by the Appointment of other Persons, Officers, and Servants to discharge the Duties now performed by them; and all Licences heretofore granted under the recited Acts or any of them shall remain in force until the Expiration of the Periods for which they were respectively granted, or until they are revoked under the Powers of this Act; and all Orders, Matters, and Things granted, made, done, or directed to be done in pursuance of the recited Acts, or any of them, shall be and remain as good, valid, and effectual, to all Intents and Purposes, as if the said Acts had not been repealed, excepting in so far as such Orders, Matters, or Things are expressly made void or affected by this Act; and all Fees, Charges, Liabilities, and Expenses due, payable, or prestable under the said Acts, or any of them, shall be payable and prestable from the same Funds and Sources as would have been applicable to such Payments, and otherwise in the like Manner as if the said Acts had not been repealed.
III Interpretation of Terms.
III. The following Words and Expressions in this Act shall have the Meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the Subject or Context repugnant to such Construction; (that is to say,) the Words ‘the Board’ shall mean the Board to be appointed under the Authority of this Act for the Superintendence and Care of Asylums and Lunatics; the Words ‘Public Asylum’ shall mean and include all such Hospitals, Madhouses, or Asylums as are or shall be established for the Custody of Lunatics by Act of Parliament or Royal Charter, or under any Deed or Mortification by which the Maker thereof has directed the Appropriation of Funds to the establishing and maintaining any Lunatic Asylum or Hospital, or any Establishment administering Funds for charitable Purposes, without any View to any pecuniary Gain or Profit arising to the Establishment or to the Estate or Funds of the Trust or Charity, and also all Hospitals, Madhouses, or Asylums, other than District Asylums, into which Lunatics committed by Order and Certificate, as herein-after provided, cannot be refused Access or Reception, without special Cause shown; the Words ‘Private Asylum’ shall mean and include all such licensed Madhouses or Asylums as are established for the Reception of more than One Lunatic under the Provisions of this Act, and kept for the pecuniary Gain or Profit of the Proprietors or Superintendents thereof or others interested therein, and into which the Admission of Lunatics is a Matter of Arrangement between the Superintendent thereof and the Party seeking or promoting the Reception of the Lunatic therein; the Words ‘District Asylum’ shall mean an Asylum, in Terms of this Act, of One of the Districts described in the Schedule (H.) hereunto annexed; the Word ‘House’ shall mean any House in which a single Lunatic is kept under an Order of the Sheriff; the Word ‘Superintendent’ shall mean the Person or Persons having the Management or Charge of any Asylum, and shall include the Proprietor, and all Persons having any pecuniary Interest therein or in the Profits to be derived therefrom; the Words ‘Medical Person’ shall mean any Person being a Member or Licentiate of one or other of the Royal Colleges of Physicians or Surgeons inEdinburgh or London , or holding a Diploma from the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow , or being a Fellow or Licentiate of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Dublin , or of the College of Surgeons in Dublin , or holding the Degree of Doctor of Medicine from One of the Universities of Scotland, England , or Ireland , or having a Right to practise Medicine or Surgery from having served in the Army or Navy, and being in actual Practice as such Physician, Surgeon, or otherwise as aforesaid; the Word ‘Lunatic’ shall mean and include any mad or furious or fatuous Person, or Person so diseased or affected in Mind as to render him unfit in the Opinion of competent Medical Persons to be at large, either as regards his own personal Safety and Conduct, or the Safety of the Persons and Property of others or of the Public; the Word ‘Burgh’ shall include and apply to the Cities, Burghs, and Towns which are Royal Burghs, or which send or contribute as Burghs to send a Member to Parliament; the Words ‘Magistrates of Burghs’ shall include the Lord Provost, or Provost or Chief Magistrate, and the Magistrates and Council of Burghs; the Expression ‘Landward Part of a County’ shall include and apply to a County exclusive of the Burghs situated therein; the Word ‘Secretary’ shall mean the Secretary to be appointed under this Act; the Expression ‘Judicial Factor’ shall mean and include any Person having charge of Property of a Lunatic, whether as Judicial Factor, Factor Loco Tutoris, Factor Loco Absentis, Curator Bonis, or Tutor Dative, or by reason of Service as Tutor at Law, or as Curator; the Word ‘Sheriff’ shall mean the Sheriff of and acting in the County of which he is Sheriff, and shall include the Sheriff Substitutes; the Words ‘Sheriff Clerk’ shall mean the Sheriff Clerk and Sheriff Clerk Depute of the County of which he is Sheriff Clerk, and shall include Steward Clerk and Steward Clerk Depute; the Word ‘Person’ and the Word ‘Owner’ shall extend to Trustees and to Bodies Politic or Corporate as well as to Individuals; and the Word ‘Month’ shall mean Calendar Month.
IV Constitution of Board.
IV. There shall be constituted for the Purposes of this Act a Board to be called the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy forScotland , in manner following:—
(1) 1. Three Persons shall be appointed by Her Majesty, One of whom shall be an unpaid Commissioner and Chairman of the Board, and Two of whom shall be paid Commissioners, and shall receive such Salary, not exceeding One thousand two hundred Pounds each per Annum , as shall be fixed by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury:
(2) 2. It shall be lawful to Her Majesty as often as shall seem expedient, by Warrant under the Hand of One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, to appoint not more than Three Persons in all at One Time to be unpaid Commissioners in Lunacy for such Period as may be specified in such Warrant:
(4) 4. All Vacancies in the Board may be supplied in like Manner from Time to Time as they occur.
V Meetings of the Board.
V. The Board all have an Office atEdinburgh for the Transaction of their Business, and shall meet there, or at such temporary Place as shall be fixed for the Purpose, upon the First Day of November next, or upon the first convenient Day within Ten Days thereafter (of which due Notice shall be given by the Secretary to each of the Members of the Board), and shall thereafter hold Two General Meetings in each Year, One upon the FirstWednesday in March and the other upon the First Wednesday in November ; and at such First Meeting, and at all other Meetings of the Board, Three of the Members shall be a Quorum, with Power to act in all the Matters hereby committed to the Board; and the Board shall have Power to adjourn for such Time and to such Place as they shall see fit, and to hold Special or pro re nata Meetings, which may be called by the Secretary in such Manner as the Board shall direct; and at all Meetings of the Board the Chairman shall have both an original and a casting Vote.
VI Power to Board to name Committees.
VI. It shall be lawful to the Board, as often as they deem fit, to appoint any Two or more of their Number as a Committee for the Purposes of this Act, or for any Part of such Purposes as the Board may direct, and if more than Two to fix the Number of such Committee that shall be sufficient to transact Business; and it shall be lawful for such Committee, in transacting the Business committed to them, to exercise all the Powers necessary for that Purpose which are by this Act given to the Board; and such Committee shall report to the Board at such Time or Times as the Board shall direct, and failing such Direction shall report to the Board at its next General Statutory Meeting.
VII ...
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