The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1901-12-14
LITIGATION MAY
FOLLOW RULING
Far-Reaching Effect Of
Decision Regarding
Insanity Law.
Bondsmen Of Treasurer and
Auditor Thought to
Be Liable.

The decision of the Supreme Court IN
the Lambert case, filed a few days ago.
may prove a bornbshen to various Supe-
rior Judges and city officials and result in
suits against the bondsmen of the Auditor
and Treasurer for the recovery OF some
s25, 900 paid out of the city treasury for
the examination and commitment OF IN
sane persons since 1897.
Under the decision all persons who were
committed to asylums for the insane may
secure their release on habeas corpus, it
having been held by the court that the
statute under which they were committed
was unconstitutional and therefore void.
Auditor Wells has been notified that he
will hereafter audit claims of the Com
missioners of Lunacy a his own risk, and
he is now investigating the matter.
Should he find that he or his bondsmen
are liable under the law for the expendl-
ture of money in this respect he will re-
fuse to audit the said claims, which ag-
gregate sums varying between $500 and
$500 each month.
The attention Of the Attorney General
has been called to the situation resulting
from the decision in the Lambert case,
and as he is the proper official to see that
the rights of the people of the State are
properly guarded he may take steps to re-
cover the money which has been paid
without warrant of law under the act now
declared to be unconstitutional.
Improperly Restrained of Liberty.
The Lambert case, which is responsible
for the trouble and litigation which seems
inevitable, was an appeal from the Supe-
rior Court of Napa County. w. II. Lam
strained of his liberty by A. NJ. Gardner.
Lambert was an inmate of the asylum a
Napa, and he applied for a writ of habeas
corpus on his commitment to that inStitu-
ton by Judge A. j. Buckles of Solano on
November 8, 1898. He alleged in his own
behalf that the act Of March 81 1897
int of he
insanity law, under Which the proceedings
for his commitment were had, was uncon-
Stitutional, in that he was thereby de-
prived of his liberty without due process
of law; that the proceedings hereunder
were insufficient to authorize his commit
ment, and that upon the application
therefor the Judge of the Superior Court
had no Jurisdiction or authority to make
that order, and that the said order to-
gether with the documents accompanying
the same did not justify his detention or
confinement.
Law Declared Invalid.
The Supreme Court analysed the law of
1897, which provided for the organiza-
and defined its powers. Under this law
an accused person was arrested without
notice, and after a purely ex parte ex-
animation by a commissioner acting
committed or released in accordance with
the evidence adduced. The court, in hold
ing this procedure to be contrary to the
provisions of the constitution, which
guarantee liberty to all citizens accord
ing 20 prescribed formulas, went on to
say:
An order for the commitment Of a person
to an insane hospital is essentially iudg-
ment by which he is deprived of his liberty
and it is cardinal principle in English juris-
prudence that before any judgment can be
pronounced against a person there must have
been trial of the issue upon which the judg
ment is given. The constitutional
guaranty that he shall not be deprived of his
liberty without due process of law is violated
whenever such Judgment is had without CIV
ing hlIn an opportunity TO pc heard IN defense
Of the charge, and upon such hearing to offer
evidence in support of his defense. If his
right to hearing depends upon the will
caprice of others, upon the discretion or
will of the Judge who is to make a decision
upon the issue. he is not protected in his
stitutionaI rights Underwood VS. People 80
Mich IL To say that, if he is in fact insane
therefore any notice to him would be vain, is
to beg the very question whose determination
of his liberty: The fact OF his insanity is to
be determined before his right to his liberty
against him without any notice opportunity
to be heard, or to introduce evidence in his
behalf, and under such determination he is
confined in the hospital his constitutional
Under the foregoing considerations it must
be held that the insanity law of 1897 to the
extent that it authorizes the confinement of
a person in an insane asylum without giving
him notice and opportunity to be heard
tutional, and that the proceedings by virtue
of which the petitioner is held by the respond
ent are invalid.
1t is ordered that the petitioner be released
from the asylum.
Effect of the Decision.
The effect of the decision will be to
place all persons who have been commit
ted to the various asylums for the insane
in the State since 1897 in position to
successfully apply for writs of habeas
corpus. In this city alone the commit
ments numbered from twenty-five to one
hundred people a month. Other counties
number to the asylurns at Napa, Stock
ton, Ukiah and AgneWs. OF course the
decision applies to only such persons now
confined in the asylums whose liberty
welfare of others. In cases of insane
persons with homicidal manias, whose
liberty would be fruitful Of harm, the
court might order their temporary deten-
ton until the Legislature could enact
law not in conflict with the constitutional
rights of citizens or until legal COM
mission in lunacy might be convened.
The spirit Of the decision quoted is TO
give every man charged with being insane
the right Of trial by jury and the addI-
tonal right to offer testimony in his own
defense. 1t is because of the lack of
these requirements that the law of 1897
has been declared unconstitutional The
law did not provide the proper machinery
for depriving insane people of their lib
erty, and in the eyes of the law an ex
parte examination by which any one is
deprived of his constitutional rights is of
no effect.
Under the. act of 1897 there have been
four physicians appointed by the Supe-
rior Judges, who served alternately each
month as Commissioners of Lunacy
in this city. The fee in each case exam
med, whether the accused is committed
or not. is So for each physician. The.
Commissioners are usually employed an
hour each day and their compensation
rarely averages less than $3.50 a month !
Their demands are presented to the Sill
pervisors. and after being passed upon
by the Finance Committee are sent to
the Auditor. They are then audited and