Lunacy Act

[Barrister]

Does anyone know what had to be proved in order to have someone involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in 1888? If not, can anyone suggest how I might begin researching this question? Thanks for your help.
Barrister

[Errata]

Does anyone know what had to be proved in order to have someone involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in 1888? If not, can anyone suggest how I might begin researching this question? Thanks for your help.
Barrister

I sort of only have general answers until the specific answer crowd rolls along, but the short answer is, not a whole lot. There had to be a court order, and there had to be an evaluation by a doctor, but the standards today don't seem to apply. Today you have to be a danger to yourself or others. So you can be batshit crazy, but if you aren't a threat that's fine.

I know Kosminski was committed, but I'm not entirely sure it was against his will. Certainly he cooperated in the process, which is rare if someone is fighting the hospitalization. Levy was involuntarily committed the second time, but at the time he was committed was also probably legally incompetent. I don't know about the first time, but there are those here who do. I know it was a transfer from prison, so maybe he was all for the move.

I think the only criteria for commitment was an "unsound mind". And what exactly that encompasses I couldn't tell you. I'm not entirely sure the doctors at the time could have told you. Probably a lot of legitimate psychiatric conditions, probably a lot of crap social reasons. Like being gay could get you locked up. And probably a lot of people who fell into a gray area of what was considered normal. And a lot of that depended on their economic status. Rich people were eccentric. Poor people were insane. Same behavior, different tolerance. It's not like Queen Victoria would not have benefited ENORMOUSLY from a turn in a shrinks office. And some anti-depressants. A lot of anti-depressants.

[Robert]

This site should prove useful :

http://studymore.org.uk/01.htm

[Barrister]

Useful, indeed. Thanks so much for the link.

[Barrister]

Sounds like things have not changed much. I appreciate your detailed analysis, Chief Inspector. It will help my research.

[Errata]

Sounds like things have not changed much. I appreciate your detailed analysis, Chief Inspector. It will help my research.

Somewhere on this site there are intake forms and commitment forms for some of the more popular suspects. Levy and Kosminski particularly. If your Google-fu is strong, you can probably search your way into them and see what questions the various authorities wanted answered.

[miss marple]

I would suggest anyone who wants a picture of 19th Century lunacy laws,
read Sarah Wise's book, Inconvenient People, Lunacy. Liberty and Mad Doctors in Victorian England.
Its a terrific read, examines lots of famous lunacy cases. The situation was very complex, sometimes liberal, sometimes very oppressive.
Sarah Wise also wrote The Blackest Streets, the history of Old Nichol.


Miss Marple

[Barrister]

Thank you, Miss Marple. That sounds like exactly what I need.