2102 ARTICLE 59.

1920, ch. 682.

21. That in any instance in which any person or persons may now or
hereafter be confined in any institution of this State by virtue of being
insane, or laboring under any mental disorder who may have been so con-
fined or committed 'to any such institution by virtue of any of the provi-
sions of this Article, or any other instance, upon application to any of
law courts of the City of Baltimore, or of any of the Circuit Courts of this
State, said person or persons may on his or her own behalf, or on behalf
of any other person for them, file a petition in said court, requesting said
court that said person or persons so confined be immediately brought, be-
fore said court to test said question of sanity or insanity or mental dis-
order; and said court is authorized and directed to forthwith empanel a
jury in the usual way, to summon witnesses and to hear evidence, and
said jury shall determine the question of the sanity or insanity of said
person, and whether or not said person is laboring under any mental dis-
order, and if the jury determine that said person or persons is insane or
suffering from some mental disorder, the said person shall be immediately
remanded to the institution in which confined; but if said jury shall deter-
mine that said person or persons is sane, or is not laboring under any men-
tal disorder, such person shall be immediately released and discharged
from custody.

See art. 16, sec. 117, et seq.

An. Code, sec. 21. 1904, sec. 21. 1888, sec. 21. 1886, ch. 487, sec. 22.
1910, ch. 715, sec. 21 (p. 188).

22. It shall be mandatory upon the officers or others in charge of such
institutions under the supervision of the Board to furnish all informa-
tion that may be requested by said Board or its Chairman, and give
free access to any member thereof and to the Chairman of said Board
to visit the insane or feeble-minded in their keeping; any refusal to do
so on the part of anyone shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or
imprisonment, in the discretion of the court in which the case may be
tried. Any member of the Board may visit any sanitarium or other insti-
tution where sick or infirm persons are received, cared for or treated, for
compensation or free, for the purpose of ascertaining whether insane per-
sons are confined therein without authority and contrary to the provisions
of the law. All persons having charge of and connected with any such
sanitarium or institution shall permit any member of the Board to have
full access to any portion thereof, and shall give such information and
afford such facilities for the inspection and inquiry as the member of the
Board making such visit may require.

An. Code, sec. 22. 1904, sec. 22, 1888, sec. 22. 1886, ch. 487, sec. 23.
1910, ch 715, sec. 22 (p. 188).

23. The Board of Mental Hygiene is empowered by sections 17 to 19,
22 to 24, 26, 38 and 40 to 47 to issue compulsory process for the atten-
dance of witnesses and the production of papers, to administer oaths and
examine persons under oath, and exercise the same powers as belong to
a justice of the peace in all cases where, from evidence laid before them,