564 ARTICLE 16

An. Code, 1924, sec. 51. 1912, sec. 50. 1906, ch. 768.

55. In any application provided for in section 53, the wife shall be
entitled to have counsel for the protection of her interests and rights, whose
service shall be paid for by the petitioner to an amount to be fixed by the
said court; and the wife shall have the right at any time to apply to the
said court for a rescission of the said order in case the petitioner shall dis-
continue supplying her with reasonable necessaries or funds reasonably
sufficient to purchase the same as aforesaid, and the petition, answer and
all other papers filed, and all hearings and proceeding under this section
and under section 53 shall be private so far as may be lawful.

Inebriates.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 52. 1912, sec. 51. 1904, sec. 47. 1888, sec. 47. 1888, ch. 71.

1894, ch. 474.

56. Whenever, by petition, under oath, any person shall be alleged to
be air habitual drunkard, incapable of taking care of himself or his prop-
erty, any circuit court of this State and also either of the circuit courts of
Baltimore City shall have the power, in its discretion, on such preliminary
examinations or inquiry, as it may think proper to make ex parte, to issue
a warrant to the sheriff of the county or city, respectively, to arrest and
bring the party so charged before such court; and it shall be the duty of
the sheriff to obey such warrant; and such court shall cause a jury of good
and lawful men, to be summoned by the said sheriff, to be empaneled forth-
with, and shall charge said jury, under oath, to inquire,, in the presence
of such person, whether he is an habitual drunkard, incapable of taking
care of himself; and the proceedings in such case shall be like those now
authorized by law in cases of persons alleged to be lunatics or insane; and
the rules of law and proceedings now applicable to the property of lunatics
shall apply to cases of persons declared to be habitual drunkards under the
provisions of this section, except when herein otherwise directed; and any
person who may be alleged to be an habitual drunkard may dispense with
the legal proceedings to establish the same, and may, with the approbation
of the court wherein said petition may be filed, appoint his own committee,
and may voluntarily enter any institution selected by the court, for a
limited time; and the board of trustees or managers of such institution may
retain such person the length of time he may have agreed therein to remain;
and if the person against whom the petition may be filed shall be found
by the jury to be an habitual drunkard, incapable of taking care of himself,
it shall be the duty of the court to appoint a committee of such person, and
such committee shall, with the written assent and approbation of the court,
have the power of confining such person in any suitable institution, for
such length of time, as the court may, in writing, approve; but said com-
mittee, with the written assent and approbation of the court, may at any
time release from confinement said habitual drunkard, and the period of
confinement of said habitual drunkard may, by the said committee, with
the written assent and approbation of the court, be from time to time ex-
tended, for such period as may be necessary for his complete reformation;
and the words "habitual drunkard," as used in this section, shall be con-
strued to embrace any person who may be habitually addicted to the use
of alcohol, opium, cocaine, morphine or any other intoxicant.

Where the proceedings are voluntary, the committee has authority to sell and convey
property of an inebriate. On an appeal from an order directing a private sale of an
inebriate's property, the order appointing the inebriate's committee is not open to re-