ART. 59] LUNACY COMMISSION. 1479

the end that proper inquiry and investigation may be had at
once as to the mental condition of such person; and if the
court shall be of the opinion that such person is not insane,
then the court shall discharge such person; but if the court
shall determine that such person is insane, then the court shall
order that such person be returned to the institution from which
he has been taken under said writ of habeas corpus.

1888, art. 59, sec. 21. 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 imprisonment, in the discretion of the court in which the
case may be tried.

Ibid. sec. 22. 1886, ch. 487, sec. 23.

22. The said lunacy commission shall have power to issue
compulsory process, for the attendance of witnesses and the
production 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 commission 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 appeal from said action or deter-
mination 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 offense may
have occurred.

Ibid, sec 23. 1886, ch. 487, 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
almshouses, in this State, where the insane or idiotic are kept.