Report of Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Contagious Diseases Acts
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
868/952 page 770
![Power to certify other hospitals. Inspection of certified hospitals. Power to withdraw certificate. Provision for :noraI and reli- gious in- struction. Certificate and decla- ration of withdrawal to be ga- zetted. Power to make regu- lations for certified hospitals. A printed copy of re- gulations to be evidence. On infor- mation,.jus- tice may Issue notice to woman who is a common prostitute. Power to justice to order peri- odical medi- cal examina- tion. (as the case may b?) to 'ue so provided shall be deemed a certified hospital under this Act; and every certified hospital so provided shall be placed under the control or management of such persons as to the Admiralty or the Secretary of State for War from time to time seem fit. 9. The Admiralty or the Secretary of State for War may from time to time, on such application or with such consent as to them or him seems requisite, and on the report of the inspector of certified hospitals, certify in writing any building or part of a building (not provided as a hospital by the Admiralty or Secretary of State for War) to be useful and efficient as a hospital for the purposes of this Act, and thereupon that building or part of a , building shall be deemed a certified hospital under this Act. 10. The inspector of certified hospitals shall from time to time visit and inspect every certified hospital. 11. The Admiralty or the Secretary of State for War may at any time, by declaration in writing, declare the certificate relative to any certified hospital withdrawn as from a time specified in the declaration, and thereupon the same shall cease to be a certified hospital as from the time so specified. 12. A hospital shall not be certified under this Act unless at the time of the granting of a certificate ade- quate provision is made for the moral and religious instruction of the women detained therein under this Act; and if at any subsequent time it appears to the Admiralty or the Secretary of State for War that in any such hospital adequate provision for that ])urpose is not made, the certificate of that hospital shall be withdrawn. 13. Every certificate and every declaration of withdrawal of a certificate relative to any hospital vmder this Act shall be published in the London or Dublin Gazette, according as the hospital to which the certificate or declaration relates is in England or in Ireland. A copy of the Gazette containing any such certificate or declaration shall be conclusive evidence of such certificate or declaration. Every certificate proved to have been made shall be presumed to be in force until the ^vithdrawal thereof is proved. 14. The managers or persons having the control or management of each certified hospital shall make regula- tions for the management and government of the hospital, as fur as regards women authorized by this Act to be detained therein for medical ti-eatment, or being therein under medical treatment for a contagious disease, such regulations not being inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, and may from time to time alter any such regula- tions ; but all such regulations, and all alterations thereof, shall be subject to tlie approval in writing of the Admiralty or the Secretary of State for War. A printed copy of regulations purporting to be regulations of a certified hospital so approved, such copy being signed by the inspector of certified hospitals, or the chief medical officer of the hospital, shall be evidence of the regvilations of the hospital, and of the due making and aj)proyal thereof, for the purposes of this Act. Periodical Medical Examinations. 15. Where an information on oath is laid before a justice by a superintendent of police, charging to the effect that the informant has good cause to believe that a woman therein named is a common prostitute, and either is resident within the li.mits of any place to which this Act applies, or, being resident within five miles of those limits, has, within fourteen days before the laying of the information, been within those limits for the purpose of prostitution, the justice may, if he thinks fit, issue a notice thereof addressed to such woman, which notice the superintendent of police shall cause to be served on her. Provided that nothing in this Act contained shall apply or extend, in the case of Woolwich, to any woman who is not resident within one of the parishes of Woolwich, Plimistead, or Charlton. IG. In either of the follovnng cases, namely,— If the woman on whom such a notice is served appears herself, or by some person on her behalf, at the time and place appointed in the notice, or at some other time and place appointed by adjournment;— If she does not so appear, and it is shown (on oath) to the justice present that the notice was served on her a reasonable time before the time appointed for her appearance, or that reasonable notice of such adjourn- ment was given to her (as the case may be),— The justice present, on oath being made before him sub- stantiating the matter of the information to his satisfaction, may, if he thinks fit, order that the woman be subject to a periodical medical examination by the visiting surgeon for any period not exceeding one year, for the purpose of ascertaining at the time of each such examination whether she is affected with a contagious disease; and thereupon she shall be subject to such a periodical medical examina- tion, and the order shall be a sufficient warrant for the visiting surgeon to conduct such examination accordingly. The order shall specify the time and place at which the woman shall attend for the first examination. The superintendent of police shall cause a copy of the order to be served on the woman. 17- Any woman, in any place to which this Act applies, may voluntarily, by a submission in writing signed by her in the presence of and attested by the superintendent of police, subject herself to a periodical medical examination under this Act for any period not exceeding one year. 18. For each of the places to which this Act applies, either the Admiralty or the Secretary of State for War (but not both for any one place) may from time to time make regulations respecting the times and places of medical examinations under this Act at that place, and generally respecting the arrangements for the conduct there of those examinations; and a copy of all such regulations from time to time in force for each place shall be sent by the Admiralty or the Secretary of State of War (as the case may be) to the clerk of the peace, town clerk (if any), clerk of the justices, visiting surgeon, and superintendent of police. 19. The visiting surgeon, having regard to the regulations aforesaid and to the circumstances of each case, shall at the first examination of each woman examined by him, and after- wards from time to time as occasion requires, prescribe the times and places at which she is required to attend again for examination; and he shall from time to time give or cause to be given to each such woman notice in writing of the times and places so prescribed. Detention in Hospital. 20. If, on any such examination, the women examined is found to be affected with a contagious cisease, she shall thereupon be liable to be detained in a certified hospital subject and according to the provisions of this Act, and the visiting surgeon shall sign a certificate to the effect that she is affected with a contagious disease, naming the cer- tified hospital in which she is to be placed ; and he shall sign that certificate in triplicate, and shall cause one of the originals to be delivered to the woman and the others to the superintendent of police. 21. Any woman to whom any such certificate of the visiting surgeon relates may, if she thinks fit, proceed to the certified hospital named in that certificate, and place herself there for medical treatment, but if after the certifi- cate is delivered to her she neglects or refuses to do so, the superintendent of police, or a constable acting under his orders, shall apprehend her, and convey her with all prac- ticable speed to that hospital, and place her there for me- dical treatment, and the certificate of the visiting surgeon shall be a sufficient authority to him for so doing. The reception of a woman in a certified hospital by the managers or persons having the control or management thereof shall be deemed to be an undertaking by them to provide for her care and treatment, lodging, clothing, and food, during her detention in hospital. 22. Where a woman certified by the visiting surgeon to be affected with a contagious disease places herself, or is placed as aforesaid, in a certified hospital for medical treatment, she shall be detained there for that purpose by the chief medical officer of the hospital until discharged by him by writing under his hand. The certificate of the visiting surgeon, one of the three originals whereof shall be delivered by the superintendent of police to the chief medical officer, shall, when so delivered, be sufficient authority for such detention. 23. The inspector of certified hospitals may, if in any case it seems to him expedient, by order in writing signed by him, direct the transfer of any woman detained in a certified hospital for medical treatment from that certified hospital to another named in the order. Every such order shall be made in triplicate, and one of the originals shall be delivered to the woman and the others to the superintendent of police. Every such order shall be sufficient authority for th3 superintendent of police or any person acting under his orders to transfer the woman to whom it relates from the one hospital to the other, and to place her there for medical treatment; and she shall be detained there for that purpose by the chief medical officer of the hospital until discharged by him by writing under his hand. The order of the inspector of certified hospitals, one of the originals whereof shall be delivered Ijy the superintendent of police to the chief medical officer of the hospital to which Voluntary submissio'i by womai] Power to make regn, lations as to eiamin: tions. Visiting surgeon to prescribe . times, &c. i Certificate of visiting surgeon. Placing in, certilied hospital fo treatment. Detention hospital. Power to transfer to another certified hospital.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365945_0868.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
