I D I 
him minis idiots., the profits of his lands, and the cuftody 
ot'his perfon, may be granted by the king to fome fabjeft 
who has intereft enough to obtain them. F. N-. B. 232. 
This branch of the royal revenue hath been long confi- 
dered as a hardlhip upon private families ; and i'o long ago 
as 8 Jac. I. it was under the consideration of parliament, 
to veil this cuftody in the relations of the party, and to 
fettle an equivalent on the crown in lieu of it; it being 
then propofed to (hare the fame fate with the feudal tenures 
which have been fince abolifhed. 4 lnjl. 203. Com. fourn. 
610. Yet few inftances can be given of the oppreffive ex¬ 
ertion of it, fince it feldom happens that a jury finds a 
man an idiot a nativitate, but only non compos mentis from 
fome particular time; which has an operation very differ¬ 
ent in point of law. 1 Comm. 304. 
The method of proving a perfon non compos is very 
fimilar to that of proving him an idiot. The lord chan¬ 
cellor, to whom, by fpecial authority from the king, the 
cuftody of idiots and lunatics is entrufted, upon petition 
or information grants a commiffion in nature of the writ 
de idiota inquirendo, to enquire into the party’s ftate of 
mind; and, if he be found non compos, the chancellor ufu- 
ally commits the care of his perfon, with a fuitable allow¬ 
ance for his maintenance, to fome friend, who is then 
called his committee. 
If a man be found by a jury an idiot d nativitate, he 
may come in perfon into the chancery before the chan¬ 
cellor, or be brought there by his friends, to be infpefted 
and examined whether idiot or not; and, if upon fuch 
view and enquiry it appears he is not fo, the verdift of the 
jury, and all the proceedings thereon, are utterly void 
and inftantly of no effeft. 9 Rep. 30, i. 4 Co. 126. In cafe 
of the lunatic’s recovery, he mull petition the chancellor 
to fuperfede the commiffion ; upon the hearing of which, 
the lunatic mult attend in perfon, that he may be in¬ 
fpefted by the chancellor ; it is alfo ufual for the pbyfi- 
cian to attend, and to make an affidavit that the lunatic is 
perfeftly recovered. Fonblanque Treat. Eq.c. 2, §. 3. in not. 
On the firft attack of lunacy, or other occalional infi¬ 
nity, while there may be hopes of a fpeedy reftitution of 
l'ealbn, it is ufual fo confine the unhappy objefts in pri¬ 
vate cuftody under the direftion of their neareft friends 
and relations; who by law may beat or ufe fuch other me¬ 
thods as are neceffary for their cure, a Ro. Ab. 546. And 
the legiflature, to prevent all abufes incident to fuch pri¬ 
vate cuftody, hath thought proper to interpofe its au¬ 
thority, by ftat. 14 Geo. III. c. 49, continued by 19 Geo. 
III. c. 15, and made perpetual by 26 Geo. III. c. 91, for 
regulating private mad-houfes. By thefe afts, no perfon 
fliall confine more than one lunatic in a houfe kept for 
the reception of lunatics, without-an annual licence from 
commiffioners appointed by the college of phyficians, or 
the juftices in feffions, under a penalty of 500I. and if the 
keeper of a licenfed houfe receive any perfon as lunatic 
■without a certificate from a phyfician, furgeon, or apo¬ 
thecary, that he is a fit perfon to be received as a lunatic, 
he fliall forfeit iool. No perfon to keep two lioufes ; 
commiffioners to vifithoufes once a-year, or when required 
By the chancellor or either chief juftice, or when they think 
fit, and examine perfons confined. 
But when the diforder is grown permanent, and the 
circumftances of the part-y will bear-fuch additional ex¬ 
igence, it is proper to apply to the royal authority, as de¬ 
legated to the chancellor, to warrant a lafting confinement, 
t Comm. 305. 
In the cafe of abfolute madmen, as they are not anfwer- 
able for their aftions, they fhould not be. permitted the 
liberty of afting, unlefs under proper controul ; and in 
particular they ought not to befuft’ered to go loofe, to the 
terror of the king’s fubjefts. It was the doftrine of our" 
ancient law, that perfons deprived of their reafon might 
be confined till they recovered their fenfes, without wait¬ 
ing for the forms of a commiffion, or other fpecial au¬ 
thority from the crown ; and now by the vagrant afts a 
snetbod is directed to be purfued for imprifoning, chain- 
Yob. X. No. 71 1, 
O C Y. ^ 7 57 
ing,and fending them to their proper houfes. 4 Comm. 25. 
jlat. 17 Geo. II. c. 5. §. 20,'21. 
Although the ftatutes refpefting idiots and lunatics, 
ftat. 17 Edw. III. c. 9, io, refer only to the lands of the 
idiot or lunatic, yet it feems that the prerogative extends 
to the cuftody of his perfon, goods, and chattels. Bever¬ 
ley's cafe, 4 Co. 125 . F. N. B. 232. As to the manner in. 
which this branch of the prerogative is vefted in the chan¬ 
cellor, before the court of wards was erected, the jurif- 
diftion, both as to idiots and lunatics, was in chancery,' 
and therefore all fuch conunifiions were taken out and 
returned in chancery; and after the court of wards was 
abolilhed by aft of parliament, it reverted back to the . 
court of chancery, and the fign manual is a Handing war¬ 
rant to the lord chancellor to grant the cuftody of luna¬ 
tics, and is a beneficial one in cafe of idiocy, becaufe the 
king could not only grant the cuftody of idiots, but alfo 
the rents and profits of their lands. 2 Atk. 553. And the 
power of the chancellor extends to making grants from 
time to time of the idiot’s and lunatic’s eftates. 3 Atk. 6 35. 
And as this power is derived under the fign manual, in 
virtue of the prerogative of the crown, the chancellor, 
who is ufually invefted with it, is refponfible to the crown 
alone for the right exercife of it; and therefore an appeal 
will not lie to the houfe of lords, from an order made in 
lunacy, but rnuft be made to the king in council. 3 P. 
IVms. 107. Rochfort. v. Ely, Bro. P. C. 
Though in flriftnefs the guardianfhip of the king may 
be faid to be determined by the death of the lunatic, yet 
it has been held, that the chancellor may make an order 
in a lunatic’s affairs, after the death of the lunatic. Amb. 
706. 3 Bro. C. R. 238. 
The cuftody of lunatics being a branch of the preroga¬ 
tive, the appointment of the committees rnuft neceffarily 
be in the diferetion of the perfon to whom that branch 
of the prerogative is intrufted ; but in the exercife of this 
diferetion, certain rules have been regarded, as belt 
calculated to p rot eft the perfon and interefts of the un¬ 
fortunate lunatic. To prevent finifter praftices, the next 
heir is feldom permitted to be the committee of the per¬ 
fon of a lunatic, becaufe it is his intereft that the party 
fhould die; but it hath been faid there lies not the fame 
objeftion againft his next of-kin, provided he .be not his 
heir; for it is his intereft to preferve the lunatic’s life, in 
order to increafe the perfonal eftate, by favings (out of 
the rents and profits of the real) which he or his family 
may hereafter be entitled to enjoy. 2 P. Wms. 638.' The 
heir is generally made the manager or committee of the 
eftate, it being clearly liis intereft, by good management, 
to keep it in condition : accountable however to the court 
of chancery, and to the non compos himfelf if he recovers, 
or otherwiie to his adminiftrators. 1 Comm. 305. 
With refpeft to the powers with which the committee 
of a lunatic is intrufted, they are neceffarily reftrained by 
the objeft of the truft; and. as a diferetionary power might, 
in fome inftances, endanger that objeft, the committee 
cannot make leafes, nor incumber the lunatic’s eftate, 
without fpecial order of the court, though the profits be 
not fufficieilt to maintain the lunatic ; therefore, where 
the lunatic when fane had mortgaged his eftate for 50I. 
and the committee had afterwards taken up more upon it, 
the court refilled to allow the mortgage to ftand, as a fe- 
curity for more than the 50I. or to charge the heir of the 
lunatic with the improvements made by the committee. 
1 Pern. 262. 
The court, however, will allow the committee of a real 
eftate of a lunatic to exercife the fame power over it, in 
regard to cutting timber for repairs, as any difereet per¬ 
fon who was the abfolute owner of it might do. 2 Atk. 407. 
Though it has been ftated as a rule never departed from, 
not to vary or change the property of a lunatic, fo as to 
effeft any alteration as to the fucceflion to it; it has been 
decreed, that incumbrances paid off in the life-time of 
the lunatic, out of favings of the eftate, fhould be affigned 
to attend the inheritance, and not in truft for' the next of 
9 © kin j 
