sane Asylum, he shall make out his warrant to the sheriff of the parish, commanding him to convey the lunatic or insane person to the Insane Asylum, for which duty the sheriff shall have the right to demand the same fees as are now allowed by law for the conveyance of convicts to the penitentiary of the State, which shall be paid out of the parish treasury, upon the order of the district or parish judge, and likewise all other expenses previously incurred in bringing said insane person before the district or parish judge.

The sanity of one convicted, but not yet sentenced, may, on motion of the District Attorney, be examined into by a commission of medical experts, appointed by the court. The judge may engraft the proceeding for that purpose on the pending criminal case, and in the absence of a direct proceeding, exacted by Sec. 1768, may resort to methods provided for the trial of analogous cases (State ex rel. Chandler, 45 An. 700). Where, after conviction, a person on his own motion was examined as to his sanity by a commission of experts appointed by the court and found insane, the court may rightfully refuse to submit the question of sanity vel non (State vs. Delaneuville, 48 An. 502). The Civil District Court as well as the Criminal District Court have jurisdiction for the interdiction of one accused of crime and found insane (State ex rel. Kennedy vs. Sheriff, 48 An. 1230; see Paine vs. Judge, 49 An. 1500.

1769. Authority of Board to Admit-The Board of Administrators shall have authority to receive insane persons, not sent to the asylum by a district or parish judge, on such terms and conditions. as they may deem fit to adopt; and money'so received shall be applied to the support of the institution.

1770. Charges-Indigents.-All persons received in the asylum as insane, shall be charged at a rate not less than ten dollars a month, unless the police jury of the parish from whence the insane person came, a municipal council, if from a city or town, or clerk of the court, shall certify that said person is in indigent circumstances.

1771. Certificates of Admission by Clerks of Court.-Whenever application is made to the clerk for a certificate as above stated, it shall be his duty to examine, under oath, such witnesses as may be brought before him, and to give or refuse said certificate, as the case may in justice require; and the said clerk is empowered, whenever he shall deem the same necessary, to summon before him, as in ordinary cases, any witness necessary, and said certificate so given shall entitle the person therein named to admission into the Lunatic Asylum without charge.

1772. Persons Entering Without Permission-Penalty.If any person shall, without permission, enter any of the buildings or inclosures appropriated to the use of the patients, or shall make any attempt to do so, or shall enter anywhere upon the premises belonging to said asylum, and commit or attempt to commit any tres

pass or depredation thereon, or if he shall, either from within or without. the inclosure, annoy or disturb the quiet of any patient confined therein, upon conviction thereof before the mayor or any justice of the peace in the town of Jackson, he shall be condemned to pay a fine not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars for the use of said asylum, subject to appeal to the District Court as in other cases. And the District Court shall have concurrent jurisdiction over the offending party, and in pronouncing judgment, may impose a fine and imprisonment in the parish jail for a term not less than ten nor more than thirty days, or both, at the discretion of the court.

1773. Inducing Patients to Escape, Penalty.-If any person shall abduct or seduce any patient to elope or escape from said asylum, or shall attempt to do so, or shall aid or assist therein, every such person shall, upon conviction thereof, be condemned to pay a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, for the use of said asylum, and at the discretion of the court be imprisoned in the parish jail not less than one month nor more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court.

1774. Contracts, How Let.-In al contracts for work, to be let out by the Board of Administrators, the said board shall cause specifications to made of the work to be done, and shall advertise the same for one month previous to the letting out of the contract, in a newspaper published in the parish of East Feliciana, and by notice posted up in the town of Jackson during the same time; and the parties wishing to bid for such contract shall be required to make their bids by sealed proposals, which shall be opened at a public meeting of the board by the president, on a day previously fixed, and the contract shall be awarded to the lowest solvent bidder, who shall give bond and security for the faithful execution of the same according to the published specifications (Act 272, 1861, 217).

Act 9, 1877. Administrators of State charitable institutions shall not be interested in contracts. Printed at p. 88.

1775. Limit to Amount of Contracts.-Hereafter the Board of Administrators, or any officer of the Asylum, shall have no power to contract any debt, borrow money, issue drafts, or make any contract, or incur any liability connected with the administration of said Asylum beyond the amount appropriated by the Legislature and the revenue of the institution for such purposes; and no such contract, debt, or liability thus incurred, by any of said officers, shall be binding on the State, nor shall the State, in any manner, be liable for the same.

1776. Examination of Applicants for Admission, etc.The physician of the Asylum shall professionally examine the lunatic

or insane person sent to the Asylum by the authority of the district or parish judge, and if, in his opinion, said person is only feigning insanity, being a person charged with a felonious crime, he shall report to the board, who shall investigate the facts, and if, in the judgment of the majority, said person should not be admitted as an inmate of the asylum, the president of said board shall cause such person feigning insanity, and who had been previously committed to prison for a crime, to be confined in the parish jail, and shall immediately inform the president of the police jury of the parish, or the proper authority in the parish of Orleans, where the rejected person has his domicile, of the fact, and the reason of his rejection, and the provisions of this section shall also apply to such persons charged with a crime, who afterwards recover and become sane, in said Asylum.

1777. Disposal of Persons Feigning Insanity. The sheriff of East Feliciana, or his deputy, shall, within reasonable delay, convey said person feigning insanity, to the parish of his domicile, for which duty the sheriff shall have the right to demand the same fees which are now allowed by law for the conveyance of convicts to the penitentiary of the State, which shall be paid out of the parish treasury, on the order of the president of the police jury of the parish of the domicile of the person rejected by the Board of Administrators, or the proper authority in the parish of Orleans.

1778 to 1780 inclusive relate to action of courts, grand and petit juries acquitting accused persons on account of insanity. See Secs. 993 to 995 inclusive.

POSTAL RIGHTS OF INMATES.

Act 152, 1888, p. 213.

AN ACT to place the inmates of insane asylums under the protection of the laws by securing to them their postal rights.

SECTION 1. That henceforth each and every inmate of each and every insane asylum, both public and private, in the State of Louisiana, shall be allowed to choose one individual from the outside world to whom he or she may write when and whatever he or she desires, and over these letters to this individual, there shall be no censorship exercised or allowed by any of the asylum officials or employes; but their postoffice, so far as this one individual is concerned, shall be as free and unrestricted as are those of any other resident or citizen of the State of Louisiana, and shall be under the protection of the same postal laws; and each and every inmate shall have the right to make a new choice of this individual party every three months, if he or she so desires to do; and it is here made the duty of the superintendent to furnish each and every inmate of every insane asylum in this State, either public or private, with suitable material for writing, inclosing, sealing, stamping and mailing letters, sufficient at least for the writing of one letter a week, provided they request the same, unless they are otherwise furnished with such material; and all such letters shall be dropped by the writer thereof, accompanied by an attendant when necessary, into a postoffice box provided by the State at the insane asylum, and kept in some place easy of access to all the patients; the attendant is required in all cases

to see that this letter is directed to the patient's correspondent, and if it is not so directed, it must be held subject to the superintendent's disposal; and the contents of these boxes shall be collected once every week by an authorized person from the postoffice department, and by him placed in the hands of the United States mail for delivery.

SEC. 2. That it is hereby made the duty of the superintendent to keep registered and posted in some public place at the Insane Asylum, a true copy of the names of every individual chosen as the inmate's correspondent, and by whom chosen, and it is hereby made the duty of the superintendent to inform each of the individuals of the name of the party choosing him or her, and he is to request him or her to write his or her own name on the outside of the envelope of every letter he or she writes to this individual inmate; and all such letters bearing the writer's name on the outside shall be delivered without opening or reading the same, or allowing the same to be opened or read, unless there is reason for believing the letter contains some foreign substance which might be used for medication, in which case the letter shall be required to be opened in the presence of a competent witness, and this substance shall be delivered to the superintendent to be used at his discretion.

SEC. 3. That any person refusing or neglecting to comply with, or willingly or knowingly violating any of the provisions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine or imprisonment, at the discretion of the court, and shall be ineligible to any office in the asylum afterwards.

SEC. 4. That a printed copy of this act shall be framed and kept posted in every ward of every insane asylum, both public and private, in the State of Louisiana; that all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed, and that this act shall be in force thirty days from its passage.

INTERDICTION OF CONVICTS.

Act 105, 1896, p. 153.

AN ACT to provide for the interdiction of persons becoming insane while imprisoned in the penitentiary, and for their removal to the Asylum for the

Insane.

SECTION 1. That whenever any convict serving a sentence in the penitentiary of this State shall become insane, it shall be the duty of the warden of said penitentiary together with the clerk of the board of control to present a petition to the District Court where said penitentiary is located setting forth the insanity of such convict, and praying for his interdiction and removal from the penitentiary to the asylum for the insane.

SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the judge to whom such a petition is presented to order the convict whose insanity is prayed for brought before him, and to hear and determine the question of such person's insanity, in the same manner, and by such proofs as are now required by law for the interdiction of other insane persons, and if after hearing the evidence, the judge shall be satisfied that the convict has become insane during his imprisonment he shall order the removal of said convict from the penitentiary to the asylum for the insane.

SEC. 3. That whenever any person interdicted under this act shall recover his sanity, he shall be returned to the penitentiary, there to serve out the unexpired portion of his sentence; provided, that the expired portion of said interdict's sentence shall be reckoned from the time when the sentence first began in the penitentiary.

INSOLVENT LAWS.

1781. Involuntary Surrender.-Any judgment creditor who shall have issued execution, which has been returned "no property found," after due demand, shall have the right to compel his debtor

to make a surrender of his property, by proceeding in the following manner: The creditor shall present his petition to the court, or to the judge at chambers, having jurisdiction of the debtor's domicile, and shall allege that he is a judgment creditor of the debtor, and for what amount; that execution has issued and been returned "no property found," after due demand; that he has reason to believe that the debtor has property or assets that may be made available to his creditors; and shall conclude with a prayer that the debtor be ordered to surrender his property to his creditors. All of which shall be verified by the oath of the petitioning creditor or his attorney. And in order to ascertain who are the creditors of said debtor, the judge shall order the debtor to file a schedule of his creditors, within a delay to be fixed by the judge, together with their residences, and the sums due them; and in case all or a part of his debts consist of obligations in the shape of negotiable instruments, the holders of which are unknown to him, he shall give an accurate description of the same, under oath; and should the debtor fail or refuse to comply with this order, he shall be proceeded against, as provided for in this act, for failure to make a surrender. The judgeshall thereupon order that a meeting of the creditors take place, before a notary public of the debtor's domicile, to be held in 'the same form and manner as in cases of voluntary surrender; at which meeting a majority of the creditors, in number and amount, shall determine whether the surrender of his property shall be made to his creditors. In such case the proces verbal of the deliberations of the creditors shall be homologated in the court ordering the meeting, and the judge shall thereupon order the debtor to make a surrender of his property to his creditors, within a time to be fixed by him; Provided, That in all cases where a majority of the creditors, in number and amount, shall oppose the surrender, the costs shall be paid by the party making the application (Act 80, 1866, 144).

R. C. C., Art. 3098. The judge can not, upon the mere filing of the creditor's petition for a forced surrender, issue an order to compel the defendant to make the surrender. Reder & Co. vs. Maas et al., 34 An. 130. A suspensive appeal lies from such an order. Id.

1782. Refusal of Debtor.-Should the debtor fail or refuse to make a surrender, within the time fixed by the judge, he shall order the debtor to prison, there to remain until he shall obey the order (Act 257, 1855, 318).

1783. Surrender, How Made. The surrender shall be made and accepted, syndics elected, and all proceedings conducted in accordance with laws governing voluntary surrenders, and all laws, rules of proceeding, penalties, etc., governing voluntary surrenders,