The Queen, at the prosecution of The Rev. John Carroll, v The Governors and Directors of The Belfast District Lunatic Asylum

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 21 January 1856
• Date: 21 January 1856
• Court: Queen's Bench Division (Ireland)

Queen's Bench

THE QUEEN , at the Prosecution of the Rev. JOHN CARROLL,

and

THE GOVERNORS and DIRECTORS of the BELFAST DISTRICT LUNATIC ASYLUM.

Harding v. PollockENR 6 Bing. 62.

The Poor Law Commissioners ENR 9 Ad. & EL. 911.

The Guardians of the Braintree Union 1 Q. B> 130.

Ex parte Sir Charles NapierUNK 17 Jur. 380.

The Trustees of St. PancrasENR 3 Ad. & El. 535.

The Queen v. The Lords of the Treasury 16 Ad. & El, N. S., 357.

The Queen v. East amd West India Docks Company 2 El. & Bla. 466.

Woods v. ReedENR 2 M. & W. 777.

Cartis v. The Kent Water Works Co.ENR 7 B. & C. 314.

Rex v. The Chapelwardens of HaworthENR 12 East, 556.

Tilson v Warwick Gas Light Co.ENR 4 B. & C. 962.

Carden v. The General CemeteryENR 5 Bing., N. Cas. 253.,

Rex v. Bishop of OxfordENR 7 East, 345.

Regina v. The Mayor of London 13 Q. B. 1.

COMMON LAW REPORTS. 375 H. T. 1856. Queen's Bench THE QUEEN, at the Prosecution of the Rev. JOHN CARROLL, v. THE GOVERNORS and DIRECTORS of the BELFAST DISTRICT LUNATIC ASYLUM. (Queen's Bench.) Is this case a writ of mandamus had issued, directed to the GoverÂnors and Directors of the Belfast Lunatic Asylum, calling on them to pay to the prosecutor, the Rev. John Carroll, the sum of £40.13s., and a further sum of £12. 10s. The writ stated that, in the year 1826, an Asylum for Lunatic Poor and the Custody of Insane PerÂsons charged with Offences in Ireland was established at Belfast, NoTE.-1 & 2 G. 4, c. 33, s. 5 :-" And be it further enacted that it shall and may be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland, by and with the advice of his Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, to nominate and appoint such persons as he and they shall think fit and proper, to be Governors or Directors of every or any such Asylum in any such district; and also to nominate and appoint any persons, not exceeding eight in number, to be Commissioners for general control and correspondence, and for the superinÂtending and directing the erection, establishment and regulation of all such AsyÂlums ; and also that it shall and may be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland, and Privy Council, to make, frame and establish, or upon the suggestion and recommendation of such Commissioners for general control and correspondence, to adopt and authorise any rules and reguÂlations for the good conduct and management of such Asylums in general, or of any such Asylum in particular : provided always that every person who shall be appointed a Governor or Director of any such Asylum, or to be one of the -Commissioners for such general control and correspondence, shall act without any salary, fee, reward or emolument whatever." 6 G. 4, c. 54, s. I, enacts that after the Asylum shall be fit for the reception of lunatic poor, the Lord Lieutenant may direct any sum of money, not exceeding £10,000 in any one quarter of a year, to be issued out of the Consolidated Fund, for support of such establishments. Section 2 enacts that the grand jury of every county for which such AsyÂturn hath been erected, shall make a presentment for the re-payment of the money so advanced ; and if they refuse, the Judge is to order the sum to be raised as if it had -been presented. 376 COMMON LAW REPORTS. H. T. 1856. pursuant to the order of the Lord Lieutenant, with the consent of Queen's Bench the Privy Council ; that on the 9th of March 1853, the Rev. John THE QUEEN Carroll, the prosecutor, was duly appointed by the Lord Lieutenant v. BELFAST to be Protestant chaplain of the Asylum ; that on the 28th of Jan LUNATIC uary 1853, the Rev. William M'Cullagh was duly appointed to ASYLUM. be the Presbyterian chaplain ; and on the 5th of March 1853, the Rev. Patrick Fegan was duly appointed to be the Roman Catholic chaplain of the said Asylum ; that by an order in Council, made on the 7th of November 1853, the Lord Lieutenant, by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council, ordered that a salary of £50 per annum should be paid to each of these three chaplains, to commence and take effect from the dates of their appointments ; that the Directors and Governors of the Asylum, on the 5th of October 1853, sent to the Privy Council an estimate of the sums likely to be required by them for the maintenance of the Asylum for the three months ending the 31st of December 1853, that estimate being for the sum of £770, and with such estimate transmitted an application for the issue to themselves of said sum of £770 ; that they did not, in the amount they required, include the salaries of the three chaplains, nor did they do so in a recent estimate of £1000, which they sent to the Privy Council on the 4th of January 1854, as being the amount required for the expenses of the Asylum for the three months ending on the 31st of March 1854 ; that by an order in Council, on the 23rd of January 1854, the estimate of the Directors of the Asylum, for the quarter ending on the 31st of January 1853, was returned to them to be amended by inserting the amount of the salaries due ta the three chaplains from the date of their appointments, at the rates before mentioned ; that the second estimate was also returned for the like purpose, but the Directors of the Asylum sent back both the estimates to the Privy Council without the required amendments having been made ; that by a certain other order in Council, made on the 28th of February 1854, the Lord Lieutenant, by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council, ordered and directed that the Clerk of the Privy Council should amend the said estimates and application for issue respectively, by inserting therein and adding thereto the amount of COMMON LAW REPORTS. 377 the salaries due to the aforesaid chaplains from the date of their H. T. 1856. Queen's Bench respective appointments ; and that the said estimates and appli THE QUEEN cation for issue, when so amended, should be laid before the Lord v. Lieutenant and Privy Council, in order that orders in Council might be issued for the advance of the amounts ; that the said estimates and application for issue were amended by inserting therein and adding a sum of £128. ls. 8d. thus applied :-£41. 3s, for the Presbyterian chaplain ; £41. 4s. 8d. for the Roman Catholic chaplain, and £40. 13s. 9d. for the Protestant chaplain, being at the rate of £50 a-year from the respective dates of their appointÂment up to the 31st of December 4853, making the total estimate £898. Is. 8d., instead of /770 ; that the said Clerk of the Privy Council did also amend the second estimate and application for issue of the expenses for the quarter up to the 31st day of March 1854, by adding thereto a sum of £37. 10s. ; that 'is to say, £12. 10s. for the Presbyterian, £12. 10s. for the Roman Catholic, and £12. 10s. for the Protestant chaplains respectively, thus increasing the second estimate to £1037. 10s.; that the said amended estimates were laid before the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, and that by a certain other order in Council of the Lord Lieutenant, by and with the consent and advice of the Privy Council, made on the 28th of February 1854, the said estimates were approved of, and the issue of the said increased sums ordered ; that the said sums were on the 10th of March 1854 remitted from her Majesty's Treasury to the Governors and Directors, and received by them ; that on the 10th day of April 1854, the said Rev. John Carroll, by a notice in writing, required the Governors to pay him the said several sums of £40. 13s. 9d. and £12. 10s., and that the Governors and Directors absolutely refused to do so. The writ then comÂmanded the Governors to pay the said sums, or show cause, &e. The return of the Governors and Directors denied that the chaplains were duly appointed in manner and form as stated; and then certified that after the erection and establishment of the Asy. lum, to wit, on the 3rd of March 1854, a resolution was made and passed by the Governors and Directors that, on a wish being expressed by a patient to be visited by a minister of religion, the VOL. 5. • 378 COMMON LAW REPORTS. H. T. 1856. manager of the Asylum, if he was of opinion that said visits were Queen's Bench not likely to produce an injurious excitemefit in the patient, but THE QUEEN were likely to be beneficial to him, should be authorised to request V. BELFAST the attendance of a clergyman of the Established Church, whether LUNATIC the parochial clergyman, or with his permission the clergyman ASYLUM. of the parish to which the patient belonged before his admittance, or of a minister of such other denomination as the patient might have belonged to, if he should give a preference to such other minister, subject however to the same local limitation as in the case of the clergymen of the Established Church ; that in any case of application being made to the manager for the attendance of a minister of religion, the manager should report its application and results at the next monthly meeting of the Governors, and that no nurse or other person, connected or unconnected with the AsyÂlum, should be suffered to introduce any minister of religion to a patient without the knowledge or permission of the manager. That the said Asylum had been for a series of years under the management of Robert Stewart, M.D., as manager thereof, who was• a gentleman of great experience in the treatment of lunatics, and resided in the Asylum ; that he was also resident physician, and that after the passing of the said resolution, the manager, in pursuance of its terms, from time to time procured the attendance of the respective clergymen of different denominations upon the patients, who gave their services gratuitously ; that on the 27th of March 1843, certain rules and regulations for the management of such Asylums were made, framed...