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.
872/952 page 774
![(N.) Discharge from Hospital. In pursuance of the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866, I hereby discharge A.B. of from this hospital [add according to the fact, and certify that she is now free from a contagious disease]. Dated this day of 18 , at the Hospital. (Signed) G.H., Chief Medical Officer. (0.) Certificate on Discharge from. Imprisonment. The Contagious Diseases Act, 1866. Whereas under the above-mentioned Act A.B. of was on the day of convicted of the offence of , and has since been imprisoned for that offence in the gaol of , and is now dis- charged from imprisonment therein : Now in pursuance of the said Act I hereby certify that she is now free from a contagious disease. Dated this day of R.O., Surgeon of the gaol of [or E.F., Visiting Surgeon for Portsmouth]. (P-) Notice to Woman leaving HnapHal. The Contagious Diseases Act, 1866. To^.B. As you are now leaving this hospital, 1 hereby, in pur- suance of the above-mentioned Act, give you notice that you are still affected with a contagious disease. Dated this day of (Signed) G.H., Chief Medical Officer. Note.—The above-mentioned Act provides as follows;— If on any woman leaving a certified hospital a notice [set out section of Act]. (Q.) Certificate on last foregoing Notice or Copy. In pursuance of the within-mentioned Act, I hereby certify that the within-named woman is now free from a contagious disease. Dated this day of (Signed) E.F., Visiting Surgeon for [Portsmouth]. (R.) Application to be relieved from Examination. To L.M., Esq., and others. Her Majesty's justices of the peace for the [county] of I A.B. of , being in pursuance of the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866, subject to a periodical medical examination on my own submission [or under the order of L.M., Esq., as the case may be], dated the day of , do hereby ap])]y to be relieved therefrom. Dated this day of 18 (Signed) A.B. Witness, G. W. 32 & 33 Vict, CiiAr. 96. An Act to iiniend the Contagious Diseases Act, 1866. [11th August 1869.] 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. This Act may be cited as the Contagious Diseases Act, 1869. 2. This Act shall be construed as one with the Con- tagious Diseases Act, 1866, (in thi? Act referred to as the principal Act,) and with the Act of the session of the thirty- first and thirty-second years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter eighty, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866 to 1869. 3. Any woman who, on attending for examination or detention of Ijeing examined by the visiting surgeon, is found by him to be in such a condition that he cannot properly examine her, shall, if such surgeon has reasonable grounds for believing that she is affected with a contagious disease, be Short title. Construc- tion of Act. Temporary liable to be detained in a certified hospital, subject and according to the provisions of the Contagious Diseases Acts^ 1866 to 1869, until the visiting surgeon can properly examine her, so that she be not so detained for a period exceeding five days. The visiting surgeon shall sign a certificate to the effect that she was in such a condition that he could not properly examine her, and that he has reason- able grounds to believe that she is affected with a con- tagious disease, and shall name therein the certified hospital in which she is to be placed; and such certificate shall be signed and otherwise dealt with in the same manner, and have the same effect, except as regards duration, as a cer- tificate under the principal Act. If the reason that the visiting surgeon cannot examine the woman is that she is drunk, she may be detained upon an order of the visiting surgeon for a period not exceeding twenty-four hours in any place named in the order where persons accused of being drunk and disorderly or of offences punishable summarily are usually detained, and the gaoler or the keeper of such place shall upon the receipt of such order receive and detain the woman accordingly. 4. Wliere 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 limits of any place to which this Act applies, or, being resident within ten miles of those limits, or having no settled place of abode, has, within fourteen days before the laying of the information, either been within those limits for the purpose of prostitution, or been outside of those limits for the purposes of prostitution in the company of men resident within those limits, 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 the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866 to 1869, shall extend, in the case of Woolwich, to any woman who is not resident within the limits specified in the first schedule to this Act. Section fifteen of the principal Act is hereby repealed, and the foregoing enactment in this section is substituted for it; ])rovided that all proceedings taken and acts done under the section hereby repealed shall, notwithstanding, remain of full effect, and shall, if necessary, be continued as if they had been taken and done under this section. 5. Any order for subjecting a woman to periodical medical examination shall be in operation and enforceable as long as and whenever such woman is resident within ten miles of the limits of the place where the order was made, instead of within five miles, as prescribed by section thirty- two of the principal Act. 6. Where any woman, in pursuance of the principal Act, voluntarily subjects herself by submission in writing to a periodical medical examination under that Act, such sub- mission shall, for all the purposes of the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1866 to 186.9, have the same effect as an order of a justice siibjecting the woman to examination ; and all the provisions of the principal Act respecting the attendance of the woman for examination, and her absent- ing herself to avoid examination, and her refusing or wilfully neglecting to submit herself for examination, and the force of the order subjecting her to examination after imprison- ment for such absence, refusal, or neglect, shall apply and be construed accordingly. 7. A woman may be detained for a further jjeriod not exceeding three months, in addition to the six months allowed under section twenty-four of the principal Act, if such certificate as is required by that section (to the effect that her further detention for medical treatment is requisite,) is given at the expiration of such six months ; so, neverthe- less, that any woman be not detained under one certificate for a longer time in the whole than nine months. 8. Where an order is made discharging a woman from any hospital, or where a certificate is given, under section thirty of the principal Act, that a woman is free from a contagious disease, such order and certificate shall be de- livered to the superintendent of police, and retained by him. 9. Any woman subjected, either on her own submission or under the order of a justice, to a periodical medical ex- amination under the principal Act, who desires to be re- lieved therefrom, and is not imder detention in a certified hospital, may make application in writing in that behalf to the visiting surgeon. The visiting surgeon shall cause a copy of such applica- tion to be delivered to the superintendent of police, and if, after a report from such superintendent, he is satisfied by such report or other evidence that the applicant has ceased to be a common prostitute, may, by order under his hand, direct that she be relieved, and she shall thereupon be re- lieved, from periodical medical examination.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365945_0872.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
