Note 498 — OF IDIOTS AND LUNATICS.

A lunatic ought not to be brought before the Court of Commissioners under any artificial excitement. In a recent instance, a lunatic, or supposed lunatic, was brought before commissioners for a second examination, his conduct at the first having been rational; in the interval he had been permitted to drink a considerable quantity of ale, spirits, and bottled porter, immediately after which he was again produced, when his altered demeanor convinced the jury (ignorant of his potations) that he was lunatic, and a verdict was found accordingly. One of the commissioners being afterwards accidentally informed of the circumstance, laid the case before the Lord Chancellor, who immediately quashed the commission. The conduct of these keepers could not be too severely reprobated, and we may take this opportunity of hinting that the practice of holding any judicial investigation in taverns and public houses (where it can be avoided) is liable to many objections; at least the Inquisitio post prandium should be abolished.