The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-05-28
Legal Alteration.
sented.

1t is stated in newspapers and by cor
respondents that s'members of the Og-
den bar and number of attorneys ex-
press the opinion that BoREL, the French
man who killed LEWIS, the gambler, and
has been acquitted on account of his in
sanity at the the time of committing the
offense, cannot now be held under the
law which authorizes his detention until
the question of his present insanity is
decided. They base this opinion on the
"unconstitutionality of the law of 1892, -
claiming that it is in violation of the or
ganic act.
Ii that is a correct report the legal gem
tlemen must be laboring under sort OF
alteration themselves. The act of Feb.
p, 1892, provides that in cases of the kind
now under consideration ''the court in
which such charge is pending, or by
which such person was sentenced =
shall carefully inquire and ascertain
whether such PERSONS insanity in any
degree continues, and if it does shall or
der such person into safe custody and be
sent to the territorial insane asylum, ''etc.
1t is claimed that this law is contrary
to the organic act which ''gives the pro-
bate judge exclusive jurisdiction over in
sane persons. and for that reason the ter
ritorial law is without effect.' The
trouble with that argument is that the
organic act does not define the iurisdic-
ton of the probate courts except to say
it shall be s'as limited by law.'' Nor do
the latter enactments OF Congress in re-
lation to the territories generally make
any such specification.
The Poland law took from the probate
courts their civil and criminal iurisdic-
ton, leaving them jurisdiction as to the
estates of decedents, matters of guardi-
anship and 'other like Matters" but
said nothing about insane persons. The
EDMUNDs- TUCKER act still further cur
tailed the powers of those courts Except
in respect to the estates OF deceased per-
sons, the guardianship OF the persons and
property of infants, and of the persons
and property OF persons not of sound
mind" That confers no Hexclusive jur-
isdiction' as to insane persons.
The laws of Utah vest the probate courts
with power to inquire into the condition
of persons alleged to be insane, and pre-
scribe the manner in which such investi-
CATION shall be conducted. But this was
done by act of the legislature, March s,
1888. The law authorizing the court in
which person is tried who is adjudged
to have been insane when the offense was
committed, to inquire into his present
condition, was passed February 2, 1892,
and if considered in conflict with the
other, would prevail as the later law.
But there is something in the objection
that there are no rules of procedure in
the act of 1892, as to the manner in which
the district court shall conduct the exani-
nation. But if the rules in the act OF
1888 will not apply as governing the dis
trict court in such case, then an appli-
cation can be made to the probate court
and the examination can take place as
fully provided for. Any insane person
found at large may be arrested and taken
before the probate judge of the county in
which the arrest is made.
BoREL therefore is likely to pass an
examination to test the question of his
present insanity. That ought to be done.
The intent of the law of 1892 was to meet
just such cases as his. He has been
acquitted by a jury on the ground that
he was insane when he shot LEWIS. II
he is still in that condition the proper
place for him is the asylum. If he is now
OF sound mind he cannot be lawfully de-
tanned except for sufficient time to deter.
mine his present mental status.
The general impression of persons
acquainted with the case is that he is now
sane and so the probabilities are that in a
few days he viii be free. Some of the
Ogden lawyers, however, are queerIy out