§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that, in a case of the "Commissioners in Lunacy v. Sherrard" recently tried at the Central Criminal Court, Mr. Justice Grantham stated that, in order to get a conviction for keeping two lunatics in an unlicensed house, it must be proved that the two persons detained were not only of unsound mind, but that they were treated by the defendant as persons of unsound mind; and whether any change of the law is proposed in order to guard against the danger of the confinement of persons of unsound mind in unlicensed houses?
§ MR. ASQUITHI am informed that Mr. Justice Grantham did direct the jury in the terms stated in the question. In so doing he followed the ruling of the late Mr. Justice Stephen in "The Queen v. Bishop," which was upheld in the Court of Crown Cases Reserved. I am not aware that in practice the law has been found defective, but if any case of abuse is brought before me I will 585 consider whether amendment is desirable and practicable.