THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, he rose to present to their Lordships a measure to provide for the better management of Lunatics under the care of the Court of Chancery, and the more inexpensive application of their property. In doing so he remarked that they formed a very numerous body, and that, though their condition had been much improved of late years, there was room for still further improvement. The first object of the Bill was to facilitate the application of the property of lunatics to their maintenance; and it provided that in cases when a person has been properly certified to be a lunatic, and whose property does not exceed £500, the Lord Chancellor shall be enabled to apply it for his benefit in a summary manner and without inquisition. Again, a lunatic had now the right of traversing the inquisition finding him a lunatic, and the result was that he was often made the tool of persons whose object was only to multiply costs. The Bill proposed that after the first inquisition it should be in the discretion of the Lord Chancellor to grant a second inquiry. Another object of the measure was to render more efficient the inspection of lunatics by the visitors. The noble and learned Lord then presented a Bill to further diminish the expense of Proceedings in Lunacy, and to provide more effectually for the visiting of Lunatics and for other Purposes.
§ Bill read 1a