Chap. 240.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1670 of the Code of Virginia,
as amended and re-enacted by an act entitled “an act to amend and re-enact
sections 1660 to 1712, inclusive, of the Code of Virginia, in relation to State
hospitals for the insane and the commitment of insane persons,” approved
March 7, 1900, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved April 7, 1903.

Approved March 15, 1904.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section six-
teen hundred and seventy of the Code of Virginia be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows: |

§ 1670. What the judge or justice to do if person be insane.—lIf the
commission decides that the person be insane and ought to be confined in
a hospital, and ascertain that he is a citizen of this State, then the judge
or justice shall order such insane person to be delivered to the care and
custody of the sheriff of the county or sergeant of the city, to be safely
kept and confined in jail by him until he is conveyed to a hospital for the
insane, or otherwise discharged from custody; if some responsible person
will give bond, with sufficient surety, to be approved by the judge or jus-
tice, payable to the Commonwealth, with condition to restrain and take
proper care of such insane person without cost to the Commonwealth, until
conveyed to a hospital or otherwise discharged from custody; then said
judge or justice,may, in his discretion, commit such insane person to the
custody of such person. The judge or justice shall deliver forthwith to
the sheriff of the county or sergeant of the city a complete copy of the
record of the proceeding before the commission and of the warrant of
commitment, and shall forthwith deliver to the county clerk of the county
or clerk of the city court of the city another copy of said record, to be pre-
served in his office by him. If the justices find that the patient is a luna-
tic and ought to be confined, they may, upon request of the patient’s
friends, commit said patient to a private sanitarium, there to be confined
until removed by his or her friends or discharged by the physician in
charge of such institution; but in no event shall any patient be kept in
any such institution for a period exceeding four months. Neither the
State nor any county, city, or town thereof shall be lable in any event for
any costs or charges of sending a patient to a private sanitarium, or con-
nected with or arising out of his being sent there.