In the Court of Appeal on Friday, May 16th, Lords
Justices Bankes, Warrington and Scrutton delivered considered judgments in the appeals by Dr. C. H. Bond and Dr. J. H. Adam against the judgments in the Harnett case. It will be remembered that Mr. Justice Lush gave judgment for £20,000 with costs against Dr. Bond and Dr. Adam jointly, and for £5,000 against Dr. Bond, on the ground that Mi. W. S. Harnett had proved that he had been wrongly detained as a lunatic. The Appeal judges decided that the verdict and judgment in Mr. Justice Lush's Court must be set aside. In the case of Dr. Adam, the manager of the mental home at West Malting, the Court decided that judgment should be entered in his favour with costs of the trial and appeal. In the case of Dr. Bond a new trial was ordered. Dr. Bond was allowed the costs of the appeal, and Mr. Harnett was ordered to repay the £5,000 already paid to him under the order of Mr. Justice Lush. Lord Justice Scrutton pointed out that if the Harnett trial had been an inquiry into the working of the lunacy laws, there would have been considerable ground for saying that Mr. Harnett was detained much longer than he ought to have been ; but the trial was not concerned with the lunacy laws, but was, or should have been, concerned with a particular act of wrongful detention on a certain occasion by Dr. Bond.
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