CHAP. 388.—An ACT to define feeble-mindedness and to provide for the
examination, legal commitment, and the custody and care of feeble
minded persons, and their segregation in institutions. (S. B. 147.)

Approved March 20, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the words ‘‘feeble-minded person” in this act shall be construed
to mean any person with mental defectiveness from birth or
from an early age, but not a congenital idiot, so pronounced
that he is incapable of caring for himself or managing his af-
fairs, or of being taught to do so, and is unsafe and dangerous
to himself and to others and to the community, and who, con-
sequently, requires care, supervision and control for the pro-
tection and welfare of himself, of others and of the community,
but who is not classible as an “insane person,” as usually in-
terpreted.

2. No feeble-minded person shall be sent to any institution,
except as hereinafter provided. When any person residing in
this State shall be supposed to be feeble-minded, any reputable
citizen of the State may file a petition in the circuit court of
the county, or corporation court of the city, or with the judge
thereof in vacation, or before any justice in the city or county
in which such alleged feeble-minded person is found, setting
forth under oath the circumstances indicating the feeble-mind-
edness of the person named, the facts of his condition and sur-
roundings, his financial condition, and the names and financial
condition of the persons, if any, having the custody or control,
and the parents, guardians and brothers and sisters, if any, of
the alleged feeble-minded person.

3. Thereupon, it shall be the duty of the judge or the jus-
tice with whom said petition is filed, to issue a warrant order-
ing such alleged feeble-minded person to be brought before him
and summon the persons named in the petition and such other
persons as may be deemed competent to testify to the condition
and circumstances of the alleged feeble-minded person, includ-
ing two physicians, and enter or issue an order fixing a time
and place for the examination of such feeble-minded person.
The judge or the justice and the two physicians, one of whom
shall, when practicable, be the family physician, and neither
shall in any manner be related to him or have an interest in
his estate, shall constitute a commission to determine whether
or not such person is feeble-minded as alleged; and if it be
found by such commission that such person is feeble-minded,
and is not under such proper supervision, care or control as
to insure the welfare of himself, of others, or of the community,
the commission shall file with the circuit or corporation court of
the county or city in which such commission is held, a report
in writing, setting forth the results of their examination, to-
gether with their conclusions and recommendations.

4. If the commission be satisfied that such person is not
feeble-minded, he shall be discharged and the petition dismissed.
If the commission be satisfied that such person is feeble-minded,
said commission may petition the circuit or corporation court
of the county or city in which said commission is held, or the
judge thereof in vacation, and said court or judge may appoint
some suitable person to be the guardian or committee of the
person of such feeble-minded person, and said court or judge
may also appoint the same or a different person guardian or
664 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. [VA.

committee of the property of the feeble-minded person, and
such guardian or guardians shall have the rights and duties
which pertain to guardians of the person and property of in-
fants under the laws of this State, and shall give such bond as
may be required by said judge; provided, that the said court
or judge may commit such feeble-minded person to a private
institution approved by the State board of charities and cor-
rections, or to a State institution or colony for the feeble
minded. And said court or judge may commit said feeble
minded person to the custody of the superintendent of the poor
of the county or city in which said commission is held, pending
admission into the institution or colony. A person adjudged
feeble-minded shall have a right of appeal to the supreme court
of appeals. The costs of the proceedings upon a petition for
determining feeble-mindedness shall be defrayed in the same
ar as is provided by law in proceedings to determine in-
sanity.

5. Immediately upon an entry of an order directing that a
feeble-minded person be sent to an institution, or colony for
the feeble-minded, the clerk of the circuit court or corporation
court in which said order’ is entered, shall send a copy of the
order of commitment and the interrogatories and answers
thereto to the State Board of Charities and Corrections and two
copies to the superintendent of the institution or colony to
which such feeble-minded person is ordered to be sent, and such
superintendent shall receive such feeble-minded person into
said institution or colony as soon as there may be room therein.
But if, upon examination of the commitment papers, the super-
intendent of the said institution or colony observes any irregu-
larities therein, or has reason to believe that said person is ille
gally committed, it shall be his duty to return said papers to
the court or justice for correction.

Before delivering a feeble-minded person to the authorities
of a hospital or colony, the sheriff, sergeant, overseer of the
poor, or other persons having charge of such feeble-minded
person, shall see that he is clean, free from vermin or conta-
gious diseases. Before the admission of any feeble-minded per-
son he shall have been successfully vaccinated against small-
pox, and properly clothed; and all such feeble-minded persons
shall be, when so required by the superintendent of such hos-
pital or colony, delivered to the agent of such hospital or col.
ony at the nearest or most convenient railroad station or steam-
boat landing, at the expense of the county or corporation from
which such feeble-minded person was committed.

When application is made to the superintendent of an in-
stitution or colony for the admission of a feeble-minded person,
he shall forthwith send an attendant from the institution 01
colony to conduct such feeble-minded person to the institutor
or colony, and if, for any reason, it is impracticable to send at
attendant for this purpose, then the superintendent may ap
point the sheriff of the county or the sergeant of the city in
which such feeble-minded person is held or other suitable per-
son, to convey him or her to the institution or colony. If the
feeble-minded person is conveyed to the institution or colony
by an attendant from said institution or by some person ap-
pointed by the superintendent a certificate for transportation
for said attendant or person and the feeble-minded person
<r be furnished by the superintendent of the institution or
colony.

The sheriff or the sergeant or other person appointed for
the purpose, shall receive for conveying a feeble-minded person
to the institution or colony only actual expenses. The cost of
conveying feeble-minded persons committed by a legally ap-
pointed commission shall be paid from the funds appropriated
for the support therefor. Female attendants shall be appointed
to convey female patients to the institutions or colonies.

6. Upon receiving the feeble-minded person, the superin-
tendent of the institution shall endorse upon the commitment
papers the fact that such feeble-minded person has been re-
ceived, naming the person or persons from whom the feeble-
minded person is received. One copy of the commitment papers
so endorsed shall be sent to the clerk of the circuit or corpora-
tion court of the city or county in which said commission was
held, and another copy of the commitment papers shall be kept
by the superintendent, and the person delivering the feeble-
minded person shall endorse thereon the fact of such delivery.
The superintendent of any State institution or colony, or the
person having charge of the feeble-minded person, shall be
notified of the time and place of hearing, upon any petition for
the removal of the feeble-minded person from his custody, or
for the variations of the order of commitment.

7. On the admission of a feeble-minded person into an in-
stitution, pursuant to the provisions of this act, the superin-
tendent of the institution shall cause the mental condition of
such person to be examined, and said person placed under special
observation for a period of not less than two months, during
which time such person shall be subjected to the Binet Simon
measuring scale for intelligence, or some other approved test
of mentality, to be applieu by the superintendent of said col-
ony and by an expert designated by him and approved by the
special board of directors of the institution or colony; and, if,
in their opinion, such person is not feeble-minded within the
meaning of this act, or is not a suitable subject for care and
treatment at the colony or institution, he shall be returned to
the city, county or institution from which he was committed,
at the expense of such county, city or institution. .

8. .In order to promote the welfare of the patients in the
colonies .or institutions, une superintendents and the special
boards of airectors thereof shall, as far as possible, provide
suitable employment for the patients and such training as may
be adapted to their capacities, and to that end shall, as soon as
practicable, provide such buildings and employ such teachers as
may be necessary for those purposes. The superintendent shall
administer to the patients of said institution such medical and
surgical treatment as will in the opinion of said superintendent
and of the special board of directors tend to the mental and
physical betterment of said patients. Non-resident feeble-
minded persons shall be dealt with after commitment, or after
admission into the hospital or colony for the feeble-minded, in a
similar manner as is provided for non-resident insane persons
in section sixteen hundred and seventy-six, Pollard’s Code, nine-
teen hundred and four, or laws amendatory thereof.

9. Any person who shall knowingly contrive or conspire to
commit any person to an institution for the feeble-minded un-
lawfully or maliciously, and any person who shall violate any
of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor and upon conviction shall be fined not exceeding one
thousand dollars or confined in jail not exceeding one year, or
both.

10. When a person is brought before any circuit or corpora-
tion court, juvenile court, justice of the peace, or other court of
justice for any purpose other than an inquiry into his mental
condition, if it appears to the court upon the testimony of one
or more qualified physicians that such a person is feeble-minded
within the meaning of this act, the judge or the justice shall
direct some officer of the court, or other suitable person to file
a petition under this act, and the court, pending the prepara-
tion, filing and hearing of such petition, may order the said per-
son to be detained in a proper place of safety; or be placed
under the guardianship of some suitable person; or committed
to the department of the criminal insane at the appropriate in-
stitution, for observation, under such limitations as it may
order, pending the determination of the mental condition of
said persons suspected of being feeble-minded.

11. When the mental condition of any person under guar-
dianship or custody as a feeble-minded person, pursuant to an
order of court or judge or justice, under this act, is found to
be such that he should be transferred to a hospital for the
insane, the superintendent of the institution in which the pe-
tient may be, or any reputable citizen of the State, may insti-
tute proceedings to have such person declared insane under the
law for such cases made and provided; and when the mental!
condition of any person under guardianship or custody as in-
sane, under the laws of this State, is found to be such that he
should be transferred to guardianship or custody as a feeble
minded person, the superintendent of the institution in which
said person may be, or any citizen of the State may file a peti-
tion under this act to have such person adjudged feeble-minded.

12. The superintendent of an institution or a colony for the
feeble-minded shall, in suitable cases, issue furloughs for such
‘length of time as he may deem proper, to those feeble-minded
patients in such institutions, who would be benefited or im-
proved by being so furloughed, and whom it would be safe to
furlough, provided that all costs and charges for such removal
from the said institution or colony and for their return thereto
shall be paid by such patients, or by the friends or relatives of
such patients, if they shall be able to do so; if not, the institu-
tion may defray such expenses.

13. The superintendent of a State colony or other State in-
stitution for the care and treatment of the feeble-minded may,
subject to the rules and regulations established by the general
board or directors of State hospitals, receive and detain therein,
as a patient, any suitable person who is a legal resident of the
State, on the application of the said person’s parent or legal
guardian. A person thus received as a voluntary patient at
such hospital or institution shall be detained so long as the su-
perintendent and commissioner of State hospitals and the special
board of directors deem advisable, provided that no indigent pa-
tient who has been committed is thereby, on account of lack of
room, denied admission. The superintendent or physician in
charge of any State institution or colony for the feeble-minded
shall report to the commissioner of State hospitals and the
specia] board of directors, the admission of a person by such
voluntary agreement, and forward to said commissioner, and
also present to the special board of directors, at their next meet-
ing, a record of such patient, in accordance with such rules and
regulations as may be established by the general board of State
hospitals.

14. Such voluntary patient shall, through his legal repre-
sentative, be required to defray his expenses for transportation
to and from the institution or colony, and for care and treat-
ment while in such colony or institution. The rate of charges
for care and treatment of such voluntary patients shall be fixed
by the commissioner of hospitals and the general board of di-
rectors of State hospitals, provided that such charges do not
exceed the actual cost of care and maintenance and treatment
of such voluntary patients. Upon making application for vol-
untary admission the parents, guardians or other legal custo-
dians of such persons, shall furnish and deliver an obligation
acceptable to the special board of directors, with sufficient surety
(payable to the institution in its corporate name), for the
payment of such sum of money as may be fixed by the general
board of directors, for his maintenance, care and treatment,
while in the hospital or institution.

15. The superintendents of the colonies for the feeble-
minded within this State and under its control and management,
the secretary of the State board of charities and corrections and
the commissioner of State hospitals for the insane, shall consti-
tute a committee whose duty it shall be to prepare suitable and
proper forms, interrogatories, mittimi and other papers neces-
sary to carry out the purposes of this act and to provide for
the examination of such persons as may be brought before a
commission, as provided in this act, and the commitment of such
persons as shall be adjudged feeble-minded under the provisions
of this act.

16. On and after the date on which this act goes into ef-
fect, and as soon as room is available at the appropriate insti-
tution, no feenle-minded woman of child-bearing age shall be
received as an inmate of any almshouse in this State.

17. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are
to that extent hereby repealed.