Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-22
CARE OF THE INSANE.
Recommendation of Dr.. Vim.
A. White Discussed.
LOCAL ATTORNEYS VIEWS
Persons Suspected Declared to Be
Entitled to Hearing by Jury.
SOME PREFER TRIAL By JUDGE
Each Side Presented in Interviews
With Local Attorneys-Con-
stitutional Aspect.
ONE PREFER TRIAL By JUDGE

ing jury trials IN cases VI dNeSeo iilsdHitJ
arising in the District of Columbia, has
attracted no little attention in legal cir
cles Many lawyers assert that person
who is alleged to be of unsound mind is
entitled to have the question of his IN
sanity determined by a jury of his fellow
citizens, and that law which denies him
that right would be unconstitutional.
Others claim the trial before judge only
to be the more humane method of con-
Quoting the investigation into the mental
condition of the unfortunate persons.
Presented by Mr.. Sinclair.
Attorney A. Leftwich Sinclair. who for
several years represented the District
Commissioners in proceedings taken by
them in the local courts for the commit
ment of the INDECENT insane to the Gov
eminent Hospital for the Insane. in con-
versation with a Star reporter yesterday,
had the following to say regarding the
recommendation of DR.. White:
The recommendation of tue supern-
tendent of the Government Hospital for
the Insane recalls the fight we had in the
District several vars ago to get rid of
law which was believed to be unconsti-
passed an act which in terms denied to al
legged lunatics the right of trial by Jury,
and committed the question of THEM in
sanity to the determination of a justice
of the District Supreme Court. This law
had many Objectionable features and
proved to be very unsatisfactory. Pro-
ceedlngs under 1t were cumbrous and en-
tailed greater expense upon the govern
ment than they had heretofore. The
chief objection to the law, however, lay
constitutional. We were constantly
troubled with the fear that the law might
be judicially declared unconstitutional. in
which event there would have been q
Jail delivery so to speak as the super
intendent of the Government Hospital for
the Insane would have been unable to
justify the detention of any Of the per-
sons who had been committed to the hos.
pital under the provisions Of that law
Fortunately for the District, the question
of the constitutionality of the law was
never adjuoicated.
Action by Congress.
I'm 1905 the District Commissioners sue.
ceeded in securing from Congress an act
repeating the act of 1890 and reinstatins
the former procedure in insanity cases
restoring to persons whose sanity was
called in question the right to have their
cases passed upon by jury.
Such was the practice at common law.
and has always been regarded as the
proper procedure in such cases in this
jurisdiction. In 1856 the Supreme Court
of the District, sitting in general term,
had before 1t case involving the ques-
ton as to what constituted due process of
law in lunacy proceedings. and Mr.. JUS
tice James. delivering the unanimous
opinion Of the court, said:
We do not think there is anything in
the language of the statute which gives
any power of compulsory seciusion with
~ la 7 thA
OF this asylum, and nothing more. It sim
ply merits Its use for an insane person.
pay patient-and means no more than
If the statute had prescribed the rate Of
boarding for such persons. One of the
terms for admission is that two physi-
clans shall certify to the insanity of the
party. But that does not do away with
the necessity of proper judicial ascer-
tainment of the fact of insanity. The
provision for the physicians certificate
only contemplate the fact that a person
may have been found insane by q Jury
sane again. and. therefore. the certificate
is to show that the insanity has not
ceased
Statute Merely Permissive.
AS matter of Interpretation the
statute is merely permissive. It gives no
power to seclude a person in invitum who
has not been judicially found to be in
sane. There must be regular
adjudication of the question by due proc
ess of law. without which even the chan
cellor cannot act: and due process of law
in establishing the insanity Of a person
has long been declared to be by inquiry
through a Jury. This deprivation
of the liberty of a citizen upon the ground
of lunacy is matter of very grave i'm
portance. because it may easily happen
that for fraudulent purposes, perhaps
with view to deprive a person owning
property of his control over 1t, per-
fectly sane man might be sent to an asy
lum by his relations upon a certificate Of
physicians and be Illegally confined there
for years
''The act of 1899, which denied to the
alleged lunatic the right of trial by jury,
was declared to be unconstitutional by
several of the members of the District
Supreme Court while I had charge of the
Iunacy proceedings and by lawyers gen.
orally. 1t was declared to be unconstitu-
tional by Mr.. Henry E. Davis, United
States attorney for the District, shortly
after it's passage, in a communication to
Senator Hoar, chairman OF the judiciary
committee of the Senate. and also by Mr..
A. B. Duvall, the late corporation couns
sci. and by Mr.. Thomas, the present
corporation counsel. in opinions submit
ted by them to the District Commission
ers.
ut would seem, therefore, that such a
law for cases of alleged insanity in the
District as that proposed by the superin-
tendent of the Government Hospital for
the Insane would be of exceedingly doubt
full constitutionality, to say the least"
Opposite View.
The opposite view of the matter is taken
by Attorney Frederick A. Fenning. who
has handled as attorney or in the capacity
of committee number of lunacy cases.
He says:
THE most striking difference in the care
and treatment of the insane between the
past and the present is that more and
more the status of an insane person Is
being fixed as that of a patient needing
treatment. Time was when the insane
man was considered and treated more as
an animal than human being, later he
received more humane federation, now he
receives the care and attention of sick
man Thus has the medical profession
pr ogressed in its treatment of the mental
ly deficient.
THE law in many jurisdictions. includ-
ing the District of Columbia. has not by
sny means kept pace with the progress Of
the physicians in this respect. Even to-
day writs de lunatico inquirendo are made
returnabie before a justice holding crimi-
nal court and the hearings are before q
criminal court jury. The man who Is al
legged to be a lunatic is@thus served with
napers commanding him to be present
in a criminal court and he is frequently
..ai-.. -, hoip,y srbaroed' NTH I,r,