59 P. 126 | Cal. | 1899
Lead Opinion
Application for a writ to prohibit defendant from entertaining jurisdiction in a certain habeas corpus case. One Buchanan was duly committed to the Napa State Hospital for the Insane by the superior court of Yuba county pending his trial upon the charge of murder. A friend of Buchanan, one Muller, presented his petition to the Hon. E.D. Ham, judge of the superior court of Napa county, setting forth, among other things, that Buchanan has recovered his sanity and is entitled to be discharged from the state hospital and redelivered to the sheriff of said Yuba County to be dealt with as provided by chapter VI of the Penal Code, and that his detention in said hospital, as an insane patient, has become and now is illegal. Judge Ham issued the writ, returnable "before the acting judge of said superior court," in the courtroom of the superior court of Napa county. At the request of Judge Ham, defendant, who was then judge of the superior court of Contra Costa county, proceeded to hold the superior court of Napa county, and while so doing assumed jurisdiction in this habeascorpus case. The petitioner in this present proceeding, the medical superintendent of the Napa State Hospital, made return to the writ, showing the legal commitment of Buchanan to the asylum, and alleging that he has not recovered his sanity. He claims that Buchanan cannot be delivered to the sheriff of Yuba county except upon the certificate of plaintiff that Buchanan has recovered his sanity, approved by the judge of the superior court of that county; and that the superior court of Napa county is without jurisdiction or authority to order plaintiff to so redeliver Buchanan.
1. It is contended that section 13, article III, of the insanity law, approved March 31, 1897 (Stats. 1897, p. 311), does not apply to insane persons of Buchanan's class. The question is an important one, inasmuch as it involves the right of an inmate of a state hospital, who happens at the time to be resting under a criminal charge and is committed pending trial for his crime, to have his alleged insanity made *616 the subject of judicial inquiry by the writ of habeas corpus. It is claimed that "the medical superintendent is the only person or tribunal vested by law with authority to determine whether or not an insane patient of this class has recovered."
Section 13, article III, of the insanity law provides as follows: "Anyone in custody as an insane person is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus upon a proper application made by a relative or some friends in his behalf to the superior judge of the county in which the hospital is located. Upon the return of such writ the fact of his insanity shall be inquired into and determined. The medical history of the patient, as it appears in the clinical records, shall be given in evidence, and the superintendent in charge of the state hospital wherein such person is held in custody, and any other persons, shall be sworn touching the mental condition of such person."
That part of section 14, article III, relied upon reads as follows: "A patient committed to a hospital under the provisions of chapter VI, title X, part II, of the Penal Code of this state, shall, upon the certificate of the superintendent that such person has recovered, approved by the superior judge of the county from which the patient was committed, be redelivered to the sheriff of such county and dealt with as provided for by said chapter VI of the Penal Code."
The provisions of the Penal Code regulating the commitment of persons charged with crime are found in sections 1367 to 1373. No question arises as to the regularity of Buchanan's commitment under these provisions. Section 1372 provides as follows: "If the defendant is received into the asylum, he must be detained there until he becomes sane. When he becomes sane, the superintendent must give notice of that fact to the sheriff and district attorney of the county. The sheriff must thereupon, without delay, bring the defendant from the asylum and place him in proper custody until he is brought to trial or judgment, as the case may be, or is legally discharged."
Section
Section 5, article I, of the constitution reads: "The privilege *617 of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require its suspension."
We find in the statute no authority for making two classes of insane — one civil and the other criminal — and by any such classification to take the latter out of the operation of the statute as to the right of habeas corpus. Section 13, article III, of the insanity law makes no such distinction. But plaintiff contends that section 14 of article III in terms confers authority upon the medical superintendent to determine when the patient of the criminal class is restored to sanity, and, as the authority is not conferred upon any other person or tribunal, it is necessarily exclusive, and also proves that the law recognizes the two mentioned classes of insane. We cannot believe that the legislature intended to enact a law so entirely out of harmony with the spirit and letter of the constitution and the statute to which attention has been called. It is our duty to harmonize sections 13 and 14, article III, of the insanity law, so as to conform to the constitution and to the statutes quoted, if we can, rather than resort to the more extreme necessity of holding section 14 to be unconstitutional, as defendant claims it to be, if given the construction placed upon it by plaintiff. We think it was intended by section 14 to provide means by which a patient of Buchanan's class, whose reason has become restored, could be at once remanded to the sheriff of the proper county for trial; but it was not intended that the arbitrary power should rest with the medical superintendent to deprive the patient of the right to be so returned, nor was it intended that the medical superintendent should be the exclusive judge of the patient's restoration. The commitment is made under section
We can see no more authority for detaining an inmate of a state hospital against his will, after he has become restored to reason, than for detaining a prisoner upon conviction of crime after he has served out his sentence; or for detaining a person upon a criminal charge for an act to which the law attaches no criminality; and in this latter case the prisoner would be entitled to his discharge for lack of jurisdiction to hold him.(Ex parte Kearny,
If Buchanan has recovered his reason the commitment under which he is held will not justify his further detention, for it operates only so long as the inmate is insane.
Counsel for plaintiff say in their brief that the learned judge (defendant) held at the hearing that he had the power to inquire into and adjudge the question of Buchanan's sanity, but had not the power to discharge him or order him returned *619 to the sheriff of Yuba county; that the judge could only send him back to the hospital and leave the enforcement of his rights to some other appropriate proceedings. It is hence argued that this is a misconception of the functions of the writ and concedes the duty of the judge to remand Buchanan. It is true that section 14, article III, of the insanity law provides that the patient shall, upon the certificate of the superintendent that he has recovered, approved by the judge of the county from which the patient was committed, be redelivered to the sheriff of such county, and dealt with as provided by chapter 6, title 10, part 2, of the Penal Code; but that is where the superintendent acts. Where he refuses to act, and resort is had to the court, we think the judge has the power not only to adjudge the patient to be sane, but to order him redelivered to the sheriff to be dealt with under the Penal Code. Section 1484 of that code declares that the court or judge "shall dispose of such party as the justice of the case may require." Section 1493 provides: "In cases where any party is held under illegal restraint or custody, or any other person is entitled to the restraint or custody of such party, the judge or court may order such party to be committed to the restraint or custody of such person as is by law entitled thereto." In his petition Buchanan does not ask to be restored to his freedom; he asks to be redelivered to the sheriff of Yuba county, to be there put upon trial under the charge resting against him. We can see no reason why the court or judge should not have the power by an order to direct that Buchanan be redelivered to the sheriff as prayed for by him, should he be found to be sane. Why should he be remanded to the custody of the superintendent, who would no longer have authority to detain him? Or why should he be required to resort to some other proceeding in order to obtain the relief which he may have in the habeascorpus proceeding?
2. Defendant makes the point that the judge of the superior court of Napa county alone has jurisdiction, since the language of section 13, article III, of the insanity law provides that the application authorized by it is to be made "to the superior judge of the county in which the hospital is located." The section also provides as follows: "Upon the return of such writ the fact of his insanity shall be inquired *620
into and determined." The act does not require the hearing to be before the judge elect of the superior court of the county. He may be disqualified to act by reason of relationship to the petitioner or for other cause. Section
We advise that the writ be denied.
Cooper, C., and Gray, C., concurred. *621
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion the writ is denied. Temple, J., Henshaw, J.
Concurrence Opinion
I concur in the judgment because I see no way to hold otherwise consistently with the sacred right of the citizen to invoke the remedy of the writ of habeas corpus. Some slight impairment of the efficiency and discipline of insane asylums may possibly follow; but it is not to be assumed that a judge of the superior court will declare a man to be sane contrary to the judgment of the superintendent of the asylum except in a very clear and strong case.