ART. 59.] LUNACY COMMISSION. 961

1886, ch. 487, sec. 22.

21. It shall be mandatory upon the officers or others in charge
of such places, to furnish all information that may be requested
by said commission or their secretary, and give free access to
any member thereof, and to said secretary, to visit the insane or
idiotic in their keeping, and any refusal to do so on the part of
any one, shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprison-
ment, in the discretion of the court in which the case may
be tried.

Ibid. sec. 23.

22. The said lunacy commission shall have power to issue
compulsory process for the attendance of witnesses, and the pro-
duction of papers, to administer oaths and examine persons under
oath, and exercise the same powers that belong to a justice of the
peace in all cases when from evidence laid before them there is
reason to believe that any person is wrongfully deprived of his
liberty, or has been cruelly or negligently treated in any place,
institution, or almshouse; but in all cases in which said com-
mission shall take action or determine any question affecting any
insane person or person supposed to be insane, or any institution
in which such insane or supposed to be insane person is confined,
the managers of such institution shall have the same right of ap-
peal from said action or determination of said commission as is
now allowed by law in cases instituted before justices of the
peace of this State, and the commission shall be empowered to
present the offenders before the grand jury of the city or county
in which such offence may have occurred.

Ibid. sec. 24,

23. They shall make an annual report to the governor of the
State, in the month of December of each year, giving an account
of their proceedings; also a report of the condition of all the
different institutions, public, corporate and private, including alms-
houses, in this State, where the insane or idiotic are kept.

Ibid. sec. 25.

24. They shall be authorized to require a written report from
all institutions, public, corporate and private, including alms-
houses, in which the insane or idiotic may be kept; said report
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