Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1866
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1866 c. 51 |
| Year | 1866 |
Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1866
(29 & 30 Vict.) C A P. LI.
An Act to amend the Acts relating to Lunacy inScotland , and to make further Provision for the Care and Treatment of Lunatics.
[16th July 1866]
W HEREAS an Act was passed in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituledAn Act for the Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics, and for the Provision, Maintenance, and Regulation of Lunatic Asylums, in Scotland; and another Act was passed in the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled An Actto amend an Act of the last Session for the Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics, and for the Provision, Maintenance, and Regulation of Lunatic Asylums, in Scotland; and another Act was passed in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled An Actto make farther Provision respecting Lunacy in Scotland; and another Act was passed in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled An Actto continue the Deputy Commissioners in Lunacy in Scotland, and to make farther Provision for the Salaries of the Deputy Commissioners, Secretary, and Clerk of the General Board of Lunacy in Scotland: And whereas it is expedient that the said Deputy Commissioners should be continued, that certain of the Provisions of the said Acts should be amended, and that farther Provision should be made for the Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics, and for the 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:
1 Short Title.
1. This Act may be cited as ‘TheLunacy (Scotland) Act, 1866.’
2 Construction of Act.
2. This Act shall be construed with the recited Acts as One Act, and this Act and the said recited Acts may be recited together as the Lunacy (Scotland ) Acts.
3 Continuance of Deputy Commissioners.
3. The Provisions of the Twentieth and Twenty-firstVictoria, Chapter Seventy-one, first recited, and of the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Victoria , Chapter Fifty-nine, last recited, in regard to the Appointment and Salary of Deputy Commissioners, shall be and are hereby continued until Parliament shall otherwise determine.
4 Medical Officers of Asylums may not grant Certificates.
4. It shall not be lawful for the Medical Superintendent, ordinary Medical Attendant, or Assistant Medical Officer of any Asylum, to grant a Certificate of Insanity for the Reception of any Lunatic, not a Pauper Lunatic, into such Asylum, except the Certificate of Emergency authorized by Section Fourteen of the third-recited Act.
5 Orders and Medical Certificates may be amended.
5. Section Thirty-six of the first-recited Act is hereby repealed; and in lieu thereof be it enacted, That if after the Reception of any Lunatic into any Asylum or House it appears that any Order or Medical Certificate upon which he was received is in any respect incorrect or defective, such Order or Medical Certificate may be amended by the Person who has granted the same at any Time within Twenty-one Days after the Reception of such Lunatic: Provided nevertheless, that no such Amendment shall have any Force or Effect unless the same shall receive the Sanction of the Board, and failing such Amendment, it shall be lawful for the Board to report such Failure to the Sheriff; who shall, if satisfied that the original Order or Medical Certificates are in any respect incorrect or defective, and of the Failure to amend them, recal such original Order.
6 Orders to remain in force although Patient absent from Asylum.
6. In every Case in which any Lunatic or any Person who has entered an Asylum for Treatment under Authority of this Act is temporarily absent from the Asylum or House for his Reception into which the Order was given, or shall escape from such Asylum or House, or from the Care of the Officers thereof, such Order shall remain in force in the same Manner as if such Lunatic or Person as aforesaid were not absent or had not escaped: Provided always, that such Lunatic or Person as aforesaid shall return or be brought back to such Asylum or House within a Period not exceeding Twenty-eight Days from the Day on which he left or escaped from such Asylum or House, or within a Period of Three Months where such Lunatic or Person as aforesaid is accompanied by or remains under the Care of the Officers or Attendants of such Asylum or House.
7 Determination of Orders.
7. The Powers conferred by the Sheriff's Order for the Reception and Detention of any Lunatic in any Asylum or House shall cease and determine with the Notice of Discharge of such Lunatic given by the Superintendent of such Asylum or House to the Board; and in no Case shall the Sheriff's Order remain in force longer than the First Day ofJanuary first occurring after the Expiry of Three Years from the Date on which it was granted, or than the First Day of January in each succeeding Year, unless the Superintendent or Medical Attendant of the Asylum or House in which the Lunatic is detained shall, on each of the said First Days of January, or within Fourteen clear Days immediately preceding, grant and transmit to the Board a Certificate, on Soul and Conscience, according to the Form of Schedule A. hereunto annexed, that the Detention of the Lunatic is necessary and proper, either for his own Welfare or the Safety of the Public.
8 Discharge on Probation of Pauper Lunatics.
8. Every Pauper Lunatic who is discharged on Probation from any Asylum or House shall remain subject to Inspection by the Commissioners during the Period of Probation; and it shall not be lawful for the Parochial Board to take any such Pauper Lunatic off the Poor's Roll, or to alter the Conditions on which probationary Discharge was granted, without the Sanction of the Board, during the Period of Probation; and every Inspector of the Poor who shall infringe these Provisions shall be liable in a Penalty not exceeding Ten Pounds.
9 Discharge of Pauper Lunatics by Authority of Parochial Board.
9. It shall be lawful for any Parochial Board, by a Minute at a duly constituted Meeting, to direct that any Pauper Lunatic (not being a Lunatic committed as a dangerous Lunatic under the Fifteenth Section of the third-recited Act) with whose Maintenance it is chargeable, and who is detained in any Asylum or House, shall be discharged or removed therefrom; and if a Copy of such Minute, certified to be a true Copy by the Chairman for the Time of such Parochial Board, be produced to and left with the Superintendent of such Asylum, he shall, within Seven Days from the Production of such Minute, discharge such Lunatic, or cause or suffer such Lunatic to be discharged: Provided always, that, on the written Representation of such Superintendent that such Lunatic is dangerous to himself or the Public, or in any other Way not a fit Person to be discharged, it shall be lawful for the Board, after making such Investigation as they shall think expedient, to prohibit the Discharge of any such Lunatic; and any Inspector of the Poor removing any Pauper Lunatic from an Asylum or House against the written Representation of the Superintendent of such Asylum or House, without the Sanction of the Board, shall be liable in a Penalty not exceeding Ten Pounds.
10 Inspector of Poor to...
To continue reading
Request your trial