he is to be detained therein, or in any other asylum to which he may be transferred in pursuance of the Act, as a criminal lunatic, until he ceases to be a lunatic (c). Should the criminal lunatic at any time afterwards be certified to have become sane, he is to be remitted to prison, by warrant of the Secretary of State, there to complete his sentence (d); but as regards any such criminal lunatic found to have been insane at the date of the commission of the offence, the Trial of Lunatics Act, 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 38), s. 2, provides, that, the jury having first returned a special verdict to that effect, the court shall order the accused to be kept in custody as a criminal lunatic, in such place as the court shall direct, during his Majesty's pleasure.

The proper prison for persons removable under the provisions of the Acts relating to criminal lunatics, is some asylum appropriated by law for the custody and care of such criminals as shall become insane during their imprisonment, or of such persons as shall be acquitted at their trial on the ground of insanity, under the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1800; for the Criminal Lunatic Asylums Act, 1860 (amended by the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884), provides, that his Majesty may, from time to time, by warrant under his royal sign manual, appoint that any asylum or place in England which has been provided for the purpose, shall be an asylum for criminal lunatics, and that the Secretary of State may from time to time appoint a council of supervision thereof, and also a resident medical superintendent, chaplain, and such other officers and servants as he shall think necessary, and may frame such rules for its guidance and management, as may be required (e). The Secretary of State may also, at any time, order the discharge of any such criminal prisoner, either absolutely

(c) Act of 1884, ss. 2, 10; Bradford Union v. Wilts (1868), L. R. 3 Q. B. 604. Section 9 of the Act deals with the transfer of

a lunatic from a criminal to an ordinary asylum.

(d) Act of 1884, s. 3.

(e) Act of 1860, ss. 1, 4 and 5.

or on conditions, and, if the conditions be broken, may cause the prisoner to be recaptured (ƒ); and he may also permit any such criminal prisoner to be absent on probation, from his place of confinement, on such conditions. as he may think fit. The Act contains provisions for the contingency of the term of punishment awarded to any criminal, who shall become lunatic, expiring before he recovers the use of his reason (g); and also provisions for the care of such criminal lunatics as shall be or become pauper lunatics (h).

III. The Treatment of Lunatics and of Idiots.-The provisions which have been made to secure the proper treatment of lunatics in general may be stated as follows. In addition to the provisions of the Lunacy Act, 1890, above stated, regulating their original reception and subsequent detention, and providing against their wrongful confinement, and for their humane treatment during their lawful confinement, it has been provided by the same Act (repealing but re-enacting the like provisions contained in previous statutes), that it shall be a misdemeanor for any person to receive two or more lunatics into any house, not being a county or borough lunatic asylum, which is not either a hospital duly registered, or some house duly licensed for the reception of lunatics (¿); but one lunatic may be so received (k). And hospitals wherein lunatics are to be received, must be registered with the sanction of the Commissioners of Lunacy (a board of persons comprising medical men and barristers, originally established by the Lunacy Act, 1845, s. 3, and continued by the Lunacy Act, 1890, s. 150). Licences for keeping houses for such purpose are granted by the same commissioners, at a quarterly or special meeting of the board, for Middlesex, London, Westminster, Southwark, and all places within the range

(f) Act of 1884, s. 5.
(g) Ibid. s. 6.
(h) Ibid. s. 7.

S.C.-III.

P

(i) Act of 1890, s. 315.
(k) Ibid.

of seven miles from any part of London, Westminster, or Southwark. In other places, licences for keeping such houses (the houses having been first inspected by the commissioners) may be granted by the justices in general or quarter sessions assembled (); but the licence is in no case to be for a period exceeding thirteen calendar months, and must therefore be periodically renewed (m). The Lunacy Act, 1890, contains also minute provisions, for the effectual superintendence of all such registered hospitals and licensed houses; requiring, e.g., that the keepers of such hospitals and houses shall report the admission, death, removal, discharge, or escape of any patient, and shall provide the patients with proper medical attendance (n); also, that all such patients shall be visited by the commissioners, or (in the country) by special visitors appointed by the magistrates (o), and that special visits may in particular cases be directed (p); and that reports shall be made by the visitors to the commissioners, and by the commissioners to the lord chancellor, of the state of the several houses visited by them, and as to the care taken of the patients therein (9). Moreover, a person detained in a licensed house or hospital without sufficient cause may, by the commissioners, be set at liberty (†) ; but this power does not, of course, extend to enabling the commissioners to order the discharge of a person found lunatic under a commission, or of one who is in confinement by order of the secretary of state, or under the order of any court of criminal jurisdiction. The commissioners may also visit all asylums and gaols and workhouses where any lunatics are confined, and inquire into the condition, system, and regulations of such asylums, gaols, and workhouses; and in the case of workhouses,

(7) Act of 1890, s. 208, and 3rd Schedule.

(m) Sects. 207, 216.

(n) Sects. 43–52.

(0) Sects. 163-168, 169-176, and 177-182.

(p) Sect. 204.

(7) Sects. 162, 184.

(r) Sects. 72-78,

they report thereon to the Local Government Board. And generally, the lord chancellor, in the case of lunatics under the care of committees, and either the lord chancellor or the home secretary, in the case of other persons under restraint as lunatics, may direct the commissioners or any special commissioner to visit the lunatic, and to inquire into such matters as are directed by the order, and to report to him the result of the inquiry.

Idiots, as distinguished from lunatics, may also be received in registered hospitals and licensed houses; the Idiots Act, 1886 (49 Vict. c. 25), having enacted, that idiots may be received into, and be detained in, such places, on the certificate in writing of a duly qualified medical practitioner, accompanied with a statement of the idiot's parent or guardian, certifying as to his general condition and treatment. And for securing the proper treatment of idiots while so detained, provisions similar to those applicable to lunatics confined in such places are, with but few exceptions, applicable also to idiots,—the provisions of the Idiots Act, 1886, in these particulars not having been affected in any way by the Lunacy Act, 1890 (s).

(8) 53 Vict. c. 5, s. 340.

CHAPTER XIV.

OF THE LAWS RELATING TO PRISONS.

By the Assize of Clarendon, in the reign of Henry II., provision was first made for the erection of gaols in each county, wherein the sheriff might lodge prisoners. In 1402 (by 5 Hen. IV., c. 10), it was enacted, that justices should only imprison men in "the common gaol." In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the provision of better gaols was made a charge on the county. In the nineteenth century the prison system was completely reformed, its cost and management being transferred almost entirely from the local authorities to the central government. A prison may not be erected, save by the authority of parliament (a); and when once erected, it belongs to the king (b), as representing the executive government of the country. Moreover, the gaoler, governor, keeper, or other chief officer of a prison was formerly, in contemplation of law, considered merely as the deputy of the sheriff of the county or place in which the prison was situate; and consequently, if he negligently suffered a prisoner to escape out of his custody, the sheriff (as his principal) was held responsible. Under the existing law, however, every prisoner is deemed to be in the legal custody of the gaoler himself, so that the sheriff is no longer liable for his escape (c). And every prison officer has the privileges of a constable.

(a) 2 Inst. 705; Bac. Abr. Gaol. (A.); R. v. Justices of Lancashire (1839), 11 A. & E. 144.

(b) 2 Inst. 589.

(c) Prison Act, 1865, s. 58; but cf. Sheriffs Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 55), s. 16.