29 mars 1873 - ACT to make further Provision as to the Custody of Insane Persons

Description:

Introduction of 11 Standardized Forms for Admission and Transfer of Insane persons to Gaol and Asylum.
Form K.: Beginning of Certification in Ontario.
Probational Bonds

«Section 1: Where an information is laid before one or more of Her
Majesty's justices of the peace for any territorial division in Ontario that any person, […] is, or is suspected ,and believed by the person laying such information to be insane and dangerous to be at large, and has exhibited a purpose of committing some
crime for which, if committed, such person would be liable to be indicted, such justice or justices of the peace may issue his or their warrant to apprehend such person and to cause him to be brought before such justice or justices or any other justice or justices for the same territorial division» (p. 96).
«Section 2: Every such warrant (Form A) […] shall name or otherwise describe the person against whom the information has been laid; and shall state that information has been laid on oath that such person is insane and dangerous to be at large; and the warrant shall order the person or persons to whom it is directed to apprehend the person against whom such information has been laid and to bring him before the justice or justices issuing the warrant» (p. 97).
«Section 3: here the person alleged to be insane has been apprehended under the warrant, he shall be brought before the same
justice or justices of the peace, or some other justice or justices of the peace for the ,same territorial division, and the justice committal. or justices may thereupon by his or their warrant (form B.) commit the said alleged insane person, to the common gaol or other prison, or if the justice or justices shall think fit» – Hence, the widespread practice of confining the insane into the Gaol, now is formally recognized and regulated.
«Section 4: Upon the day so appointed the said justice or justices shall proceed to hear such evidence under oath as may be adduced with reference to the alleged insanity of the prisoner, and shall then or previously direct enquiry to be made as to the friends and relatives of the prisoner in order that the evidence of some person or persons who is or are acquainted with the family and previous habits of the prisoner, may be had before the committal of the prisoner to custody as an insane person is directed» (p. 97). – The opinion of Friends and Family is not only related to Form K.
«Section 6: f after reasonable enquiry has been made by the justice or justices, he or they is or are satisfied that the prisoner is insane and dangerous to be at large, such justice or justices shall commit (form C.) such prisoner to the common gaol of such territorial division, there to remain until the pleasure of the Lieutenant-Governor be known, or until he be discharged by law» (p. 97).
«Section 9: It shall also be the duty of such justice or justices upon the examination of the witnesses in respect to such alleged insanity, and the danger of permitting the person apprehended to be at large, to elicit as far as such justice or justices may be able all information in respect to the matters set out in schedule No. 2» (p. 99). – Hence, the Schedule N°2 was introduced as a form to be used by Justices of the Peace for interrogating alleged lunatics’ relatives and friends with the aim to confine hime/her to the Gaol (not the asylum).
«Section 14: Every person committed as an insane and dangerous person under this Act shall remain in confinement in the gaol mentioned in the warrant until be is thence removed to some asylum or other place of safe keeping by direction of the Lieutenant-Governor, or until an order for his discharge is made by the Lieutenant-Governor, or until he is discharged under the provisions of the next section» (p. 99). – Hence, the final goal of confining the insane through Justices of the Peace, is to have them eventually transferred to the asylum or discharged from the Gaol. This procedure of admission is only reserved for dangerous and potential criminals, however. It involves a set of questions asked by the Justice of the Peace and answered by friends and families. It is not, therefore, a medical certification that will be regulated through a specific Form K.
«Section 15: If the Judge of the county court [or the deputy or junior judge, or two justices of the peace] shall certify (Form D) that he or they has, or have personally examined such prisoner; and that he or they is, or are satisfied that such prisoner is not insane, or that such prisoner, though insane, is not dangerous to be at large, and is not, in the opinion of such judge or justices a proper person to be confined in an asylum for the insane, and two medical practitioners, of whom the gaol surgeon shall be one, and each of whom shall separately from the other have personally examined such prisoner, shall also certify in like manner (Form E), then, in either of such cases, such prisoner shall be forthwith discharged by the keeper of the gaol in which such prisoner is confined» (p. 99). – In order to be discharged from the Gaol, the alleged insane has to prove not being dangerous in from of a public officer and in front of two medical practitioners. It is interesting to note that from now on, medical practitioners are required to separately examine the insane and produce certificates. The Form K’s structure was not alone.
«Section 16: In the case the said examining judge or justices and such medical practitioners shall duly certify (Forms F and G) that he or they, has or have personally examined such prisoner as aforesaid, and that he is insane, and a proper person to be confined in an asylum for the insane, the Lieut.-Governor upon receipt of such certificate, may, through the Provincial Secretary direct that such prisoner shall be removed to such asylum for the insane, or other place of safe custody; each medical practitioner signing a certificate under this section shall specify therein the facts upon which he has formed his opinion» (p. 99).
«Section 18: In case the medical superintendent of any asylum shall
consider it conducive to the recovery of any of the persons con- fined in such asylum that any such person should be committed for a time to the custody of his friends, such medical superintendent may allow such person to return on trial to his friends, upon receiving a written undertaking by one or more of the friends of such person, that he or they will keep an oversight over such person» – Introduction of Probational Bonds.
«Section 19: Nothing in the preceding section contained shall be construed to authorize the temporary discharge of any person who may have been imprisoned for an offence, and the period of whose sentence may not have expired»
«Section 20: In case, within six months from such temporary discharge on trial, such insane person should again become dangerous tube at large, it shall be lawful for the medical superintendent, by whom such insane person was so discharged, by his warrant (Form H.) directed to any person or persons, or to any constable or peace officer, or to all constables or peace officers, to authorize and direct that such insane person be apprehended and brought back to the asylum from which he was so temporarily discharged, and such warrant shall be an authority to any one acting» (p. 100).
«Service 22: In case any inmate of an asylum for the insane shall escape therefrom, it shall be lawful for any of the officers or servants of the asylum, or for any other person or persons at the request of such officers or servants, or any of them, within forty-eight hours after such escape where no warrant has been issued, and within one month after such escape where a warrant (Form I.) has been issued by the medical superintendent in that behalf, to retake such escaped person, and to return him to the asylum from whence he escaped, and he shall remain in custody therein under the authority by virtue of which he was detained prior to such escape» (p. 100).
«Section 27: The judge, deputy, or junior judge of the county court of the county, in the common gaol of which any person imprisoned for an offence is confined, and which person is, in the option of the gaol surgeon, insane, […] shall, as soon as conveniently may be,
cause to be made in respect of such prisoner enquiries similar to those directed to be made by the eighth and ninth sections of this Act [Schedule No. 2]; and in case there is no deputy or junior judge for any such county court, and the judge is absent from the county or unable to act, then the said enquiries may be made by such justice of the peace as may be requested by the said county court judge to act in his stead in this behalf» (p. 101).
«Section 29: Upon its appearing to the Lieutenant-Governor that any insane person, confined as aforesaid in any gaol or in a nay asylum for the insane, […] within thirty days prior to his committal to such gaol or asylum, or any other gaol or asylum it shall be lawful for the Lieutenant-Governor, by his warrant, to authorize the removal of such insane person back to the province or country from whence he has come or been brought».
«Section 30: The expense of the enquiries directed by this Act to be made, and of conveying any insane person from any gaol to an asylum for the insane, shall be paid by the county, city or separate town in which such insane person may have been apprehended» (p. 102).
«Section 31: The fifth, sixth, seventh, twenty-first and twenty-fourth sections of the Act respecting asylums for the insane, passed in the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Her present Majesty (1853), and chaptered eighteen, are hereby repealed, and the following sections are substituted in lieu of the said fifth, sixth, seventh and
twenty-fourth sections respectively:–
(5) No person shall be admitted into any of the said asylums as a lunatic (except upon an order of the Lieutenant-Governor) without the certificates (Form K.) of three medical practitioners, each attested by the signatures of two subscribing witnesses, and bearing date within three months of the time of such admission:
(6) Each such certificate shall state that the medical practitioner signing the same personally examined the patient, separately from any other medical practitioner, and that after due enquiry into all necessary facts relating to the case of such patient, found him to be insane, and the medical practitioner so certifying shall also, in such certificate, specify the facts upon which he has formed his opinion that the person to whom such certificate relates is insane, and he shall therein distinguish facts observed by himself from facts communicated to him by others.
(7) Such certificate shall be a sufficient authority to any person to convey the lunatic to any of the said Asylum, and to the authorities thereof to detain him therein, so long as he continues to be insane» (p. 103).

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