A letter to the chairman of the committee appointed to inquire into the state of the pauper lunatics in the county of Middlesex : to consider the propriety of extending the provisions of 14 Geo. III., cap. 49. to pauper lunatics, and of the consolidation of all Acts relative to lunatics and to lunatic asylums, and of making further provision relative thereto / by a member of the committee.

Date:: 1828

Credit: A letter to the chairman of the committee appointed to inquire into the state of the pauper lunatics in the county of Middlesex : to consider the propriety of extending the provisions of 14 Geo. III., cap. 49. to pauper lunatics, and of the consolidation of all Acts relative to lunatics and to lunatic asylums, and of making further provision relative thereto / by a member of the committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$even binding on the justice to determine how,,!Oir 1 in what proportion, the property is to be seized; it may rest with the officer of inferior rank, th&b overseer, to determine this. He would then b©b admitted;(toformidable range of interferenceib with the-rights of private property: such roomu{ is allowed for the operation of sinister interests,/] that they must be called into action. But, sup-pR pose a case where a patient is even plausibly deemed incurable, the calculation of his expensesio would then be made on his life; he recovers, and finds his property gone,—sold to a disadvantage jxo thfef! estate charged with all expenses, and theaj proceeds, if any, sufficient only to maintain hirn3g in -a' degraded station of life. Yet this is com->p paratively a favorable supposition; no jobbing,— no cheating or trickery,—no petty or vexatious,i tyranny, is here taken into account. How many - cases more cruel must immediately suggest them- seLves; Such misfortunes are truly lamentable,! rr when really beyond the reach of the law's correc-, tion; .but it would be intolerable that the lawn itself should promote them. With respect to lunatics charged with offencesyu ypTi would enact,that where the patient is possesse4:ii oddt'snfficient property for his maintenance, it ia^ to he taken as^ in the other instance. But, in th§(j sectioh quotedy it must appear to the justice>[a that the lunatic possesses more property thaQ3 isisufficient to maintain his or her family, hefotQ,-.$

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