PREROGATIVE 01 , THE CROwN OVER LUNATICS.—A petition of the Committee
of a lunatic for his removal from the asylum of Mr. Still- Well, of Hillingdon, near Uxbridge, to the neighbourhood of the Com- mittee, near Lichfield, was opposed by Mr. Stillwell. That gentleman adduced the authority of Mr. Brown, the Secretary of the Commission appointed by act of Parliament to superintend the management of Iona- tIe asylums, who had authorized him to resist the removal of the lunatic. The Lord Chancellor asked by what authority Mr. Brown ventured to make this communication respecting a person under the care of the Great Seal. No person had a right to interfere with the authority of the Crown over the persons and estates of lunatics. That authority was delegated by the Crown to the person holding the Great Seal, and for tbe exercise of it he was personally responsible. The Commissioners bad mistaken their power if they thought it extended to the persons who were under the care of the Lord Chancellor. After some further .discussion, the Lord Chancellor said he should have the opinion of Dr. llacmichael, and would take an early day to dispose of the case. On Friday the Lord Chancellor said be had received one of the most extraordinary letters ever addressed to any Court, signed by thirteen mimes, some of whom were doctors of medicine, some members of Par- liament, and some gentlemen connected with the law," calling upon me, the Chancellor, deciding in the highest Court of Equity in this country, nnd intrusted by my sovereign to hold the Great Seal of these realms, to reconsider an erroneous opinion which they state I have formed respect- ing a lunatic case, as reported in two newspapers, reflecting on the con- duct of these individuals ; and they call upon me publicly to relieve them from the charge of presumption and undue interference with the authority of the Crown. I should be unworthy of a seat in any Court of justice, or to hold the Great Seal, if I did not feel as I do feel upon such presumption and interference as this. I did not before charge these men with presumption or interference. I said every thing that was kind and most respectful of them. I did charge their attorney, their secre- tary, with interference, because a letter was sent by that secretary to the keeper of a madhouse direct from the board, though, as I said, without the authority of the board ; but, as if it had been by authority of the board, to direct that man to disobey the orders of this Court. When my Lord Holt was called upon, not by commissioners like those, but by a committee of the House of Commons, to give a reason for a judg- ment which he had pronounced in the King's Bench, his answer—wor- thy of the remembrance of all Courts—was, that if that judgment came belbre the Peers on a writ of error, so that it came judicially before them, he would very willingly give his reasons, but that he would not be questioned for the reason of his judgment in that manner ; and when my Lord Chief Justice Wills was remonstrated with in the case of a court martial, he instantly ordered the parties to be taken into custody for a high contempt of the Court of Common Pleas, and he was appeased, judicially appeased—for no judge feels anger, unless judicially, for the contempt of his jurisdiction— by receiving an humble and submissive letter from the offending par; ies. Ile then ordered the discharge of the prisoners, and that the letter should be registered in the Remembrancer's Office, to the end, as he observed, that it might serve as a memorial to the present and future ages, that whosoever should set himself up in opposition to the law, or consider himself above the law, would, in the end, find himself mistaken. I sit here to distribute justice impartially, under the authority of my sovereign. I sit here to give my opinion on the conduct of practitioners who misdemean themselves. I do not sit here to be answerable for re- ports in newspapers, imputing to me what I never said. What I ex. pressly said I do not mean to say ; but if any person shall interfere with me—if any doctors of medicine, or any members of either house of parliament, or any barrister practising in this Court, shall presume to tell me, for the pretended defence of one of their own clerks, that I have expressed an erroneous opinion, because the newspapers have expressed it for me, and shall call upon me to retract or explain, or to correct a mis- 'report, or a misconception of my judgment, if I did so I should be no more worthy to assert and vindicate the authority of the law and the jurisdic- tion of the Great Seal, than my Lord Holt would have been had he not acted as he did against the high authority of a Committee of the House of Commons, than my Lord, Chief Justice Wills would have been had j be not visited his authority against the most high authority of a court- Martial. I shall consult with the Chief Justices of the other Courts as to the course which is fitting for me to take, and I will take the earliest opportunity of giving the Only answer that I can give to sttch an inde- . eat interference." (Chancellor's Court,Feb.14. Re Houston,a Lunatic.)
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