When one asylum full, patient may be sent to another. greater than can be properly accommodated and cared for in that institution, and there is at the time capacity for the reception and care of the patient at either of the others, it shall be the duty of the commissioners and superintendent of such other to receive as many of those rejected at the former, for want of room, as can be properly accommodated. When, upon application to the proper asylum, the patient is rejected for want of room, immediate application shall be made to another; provided however, that colored patients shall only be sent to or kept by the eastern and central asylums; and provided also, that the white and colored patients shall not be kept in the same buildings. Proviso. Governor must supervise as to number of (4) The governor is empowered and directed to take care that each of the asylums is kept full to its utmost capacity of such patients as are receivable by it, as patients. long as any such patients in the state are unprovided for, and that each receives its due proportion of the patients in excess of the ordinary capacity of the asylum. Ibid § 26. per idiot to asylum. 30. No order shall be made by any court or officers for sending a pauper idiot to an asylum, nor shall such Sending pau- idiot be received therein unless the jury, by their verdict, on the inquest, shall find that he is so dangerous or uncontrollable that he cannot be safely and properly kept by a committee within the county. Ibid § 27. Amendment of § 1. Idiots inay be now 31. (1) In order to relieve the state from an undue accumulation of patients, the several asylums may send back 1878, ch. 807, to the counties of their residence, or whence they came, any idiots [epileptic imbeciles, and harmless incurable lunatics] who are now, or may hereafter be, in such asylums, and who, in the judgment of the commission herein authorized, can be safely and properly kept by a committee within their counties. The sent to county and put in charge of committee. Duties of commis sioners in regard to. president of the board of commissioners of each asylum, the superintendent, and one other of the commissioners, to be from time to time appointed by the board, as necessity may arise, shall constitute a commission to act upon such cases as the superintendent, [or the assistant physician, or either of them] may propose to send back. They shall investigate each case carefully and thoroughly; and if, after such investigation, Amendment of 1878, ch. 807, § 4. they shall all concur in opinion that any specific patient is so quiet, harmless, and governable, and his physical condition is such that he can be safely and properly kept by a committee within the county, they shall, in each case, make duplicate certificates of the determination, signed by them all, one to be filed and kept by the superintendent, the other to be sent with the patient. Duty of super intendent, monwealths,. attorneys in courts com and county regard there to. (2) Thereupon it shall be the duty of the superintendent to send each paying patient, as to whom such certificate shall be made, back to the county of his residence or whence he came, and deliver him, with one of said certificates, to his committee, if there be one; if there be no committee, then to his friends. who have provided for his support; and he shall send each pauper patient, as to whom such certificate shall be made, back to the county of his residence or whence he came, during the term of the court having general equity jurisdiction therein, to be brought before said court, that it may provide for his custody and support. The certificate of the commission aforesaid, and a copy of the original inquest papers, if remaining at the asylum, shall be sent along with the patient, and presented to the court; and it shall be the duty of the attorney for the commonwealth, or, in his absence, the county attorney, to procure the proper steps to be taken in such cases. (3) The courts, in cases brought before them under these provisions, shall take proper proceedings and make the proper orders for the custody and support of Powers of such idiots. (4) The said courts shall have power to direct such pauper idiots to be kept in the poor-house of the county, if Court shall there be one; and in such cases the allowances for their support shall be paid to the receiver of the poor-house, who shall be liable on his official bond for a faithful appropriation and a just account thereof. Duties and courts in such cases. direct, etc. (5) The foregoing provisions apply equally to male and female patients. Male and female patients. 32. The cost of returning pay patients is to be defrayed by their respective committees, if they have any, and, if they have no committee, or friends or relatives Act of 1878, ch. 807, § 2. cost of re able and willing to pay such cost, then the cost of turning. removal to be paid the same as in case of pauper patients— the cost of transportation of pauper patients to be paid by certificate, made on the auditor, and certified to by the superintendent in the name of the asylum sending such patients away, which shall be the same as now regulated by law for conveying pauper lunatics to the asylum. 33. This act shall apply to all patients who have been regularly committed to the lunatic asylums by proper Ibid § 3, as amended 8 1. Warrants for support of returned patients. 1880, ch. 1570, inquest, and the amount allowed for their sustenance and support shall be [seventy-five dollars] each per annum, which shall be paid by direction of the court making the order for the custody of the returned patient, which order shall be certified to by the clerk of the court making the order, directed to the auditor of the state, who shall issue his warrant on the treasurer for the sum allowed annually in favor of the party named in the order of the court. 34. All pauper idiots, epileptics, and harmless incurable Act of 1881, lunatics that have been or may hereafter be returned by the asylums in which they may have been or may be confined, to the several counties, shall be delivered into the custody of their friends, if any; if not, then to the county judges thereof, if they be residents of and sent from the county of Jefferson outside of the city of Louisville, and to the mayor of the city of Louisville, if they be residents and sent from said city, who shall make suitable provision for their keeping out of the annual seventy-five dollars appropriation now allowed such persons by law. This act shall only apply to Jefferson county and the city of Louisville. Ibid § 2. §1 Jurisdic. tion of courts having a 35. The several courts having general equity jurisdiction in Ch. 53. art. 1. this commonwealth have power and jurisdiction within their respective counties over the care and custody of the persons and estates of all idiots, lunatics, those who, from confirmed bodily infirmity, are unable to make known to others by sign, speech, or general equiover the per ty jurisdiction sons and estates of idiots and lunatics. otherwise, their thoughts or desires, and by reason thereof incompetent to manage their estates, and those whose minds, on account of any infirmity, or weight of age, have be come so imbecile or unsound as to render them incompetent to manage their estates; as also over their committees, with power to appoint, suspend, and remove committees for them, upon the same terms and in the same manner, as is given over the persons estates and guardians of infants. [Jurisdiction in inquests of idiots shall be confined Amendment to circuit court and criminal courts alone.] of April 24, 1882, § 1. Real estat may be sold to pay debts, or for mainte 36. The courts aforementioned may, on the application of a committee, order the sale of the whole or any part of the real estate of an idiot, lunatic, imbecile, or incompetent person, when indispensably necessary for the payment of debts or for the maintenance of such person and his family, and where the personal estate, with the rents and profits of the real estate, are not adequate for that purpose. nance. Ibid § 3. duty of com Power and mittee. Another may 37. The power and duty of the committee of an idiot, lunatic, imbecile, or incompetent person, shall, in all respects, be the same as those of the guardian of an infant, except as to education. But the court may appoint a person other than the committee to take charge of the person of the idiot or lunatic when he is not confined in a lunatic asylum, and make the necessary orders for his support upon the committee. be appointed to take charge of the person. mid § 4. mittee must In suits com be brought be fore court. 38. No judgment shall be binding on an idiot, lunatic, imbecile, or person incompetent having a committee, unless the committee be also brought before the court, nor shall any action be prosecuted in the name of such idiot, lunatic, imbecile, or person incompetent without the assent of his committee, unless for special cause, the court in which it is brought shall permit its committee. prosecution at the instance of another as next friend. (1) If there be no committee, the court may proceed by the appointment of a next friend. No suit with out assent of When there is no committee. (2) If there be a committee, and the idiot or lunatic is confined in an asylum, service of process on the com- When idiot or mittee alone shall be sufficient to bind the idiot or lum. lunatic. lunatic in asy Ibid 5. 39. A committee shall not be appointed to an idiot, lunatic, or person charged to be imbecile or incompetent, Committee who is a resident of this commonwealth, unless he not to be ap pointed ex cept upon judgment of court. Art. 2, § 5. lunatic, al lowance. has been heretofore or may hereafter be found to be such by the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction in the county of his residence; or, if a non-resident, by the judgment of such court in the county of his residence. 40. A person is a pauper idiot or lunatic, within the meaning of this chapter, who has been found, by the verWho a paper dict of a jury, to be an idiot or lunatic, and that he has no estate sufficient for his support; and also that his parents, if alive, have not sufficient estate to maintain him, and that he is unable to work for a support; and the order of court, making and certifying the annual allowance for the support of the idiot, shall be made on proof, and so state, and shall also state that the idiot is then alive, and a pauper. Upon such certificate, if a copy of the inquisition required to be filed by the provisions of this chapter has been filed with the auditor, he shall issue his warrant upon the treasury for the amount due, not exceeding seventy-five dollars per year, and at that rate for a greater or less time. Act of 1880, ch. 1570, § 1. Limit of allowance 41. Hereafter it shall not be lawful for any court in this commonwealth to allow, for the sustenance and support of any idiot, epileptic, or lunatic, whether he for support. has been returned from an asylum or not, more than seventy-five dollars per annum, which shall be paid as such claims are now paid by law. Ch. 53, art. 2, § 6. held. 42. If any person be of unsound mind, it shall be the duty of some court of the county in which he resides, Inquest to be having general equity jurisdiction, upon the application of the attorney of the commonwealth, or, if he be absent, of the county attorney, to cause an inquest by a jury to be held in open court, to inquire into the fact. The court shall appoint some member of the bar to represent and Attorney for protect the interest and rights of the person alleged be appointed. to be of unsound mind; and it shall also be the special duty of the attorney for the commonwealth, or for the county, to prevent the finding of any person, as an idiot or lunatic who, in his opinion, is not such; or the finding of any person an idiot who is a lunatic. defendant to 43. The commonwealth's attorney shall be especially Act of April charged with the duty of being present at all inDuty of com- quests, and shall, whenever the interests of the state 24, 1882. |