Porter v. Edwards

• Decision Date: 25 October 1897
• Citation: 72 N.W. 614,114 Mich. 640
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Parties: PORTER, PROBATE JUDGE, v. EDWARDS.

72 N.W. 614

114 Mich. 640

PORTER, PROBATE JUDGE, v. EDWARDS.

Supreme Court of Michigan

October 25, 1897

Application by F. S. Porter, judge of probate of Ingham county, for a writ of mandamus against William M. Edwards, medical superintendent of the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo. Denied.

Henry E. Chase, Dep. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

LONG C.J.

One J Welinder was adjudicated an indigent insane person by the relator on September 30, 1897, and, further, that he had not gained a settlement in Ingham county, and his legal residence was unknown. Upon this adjudication and determination the proper certificate was made by the relator, directing that the said J. Welinder be conveyed to the insane asylum at Kalamazoo, there to be supported at the expense of this state until cured, or until otherwise further ordered. The respondent refused to receive him into said asylum, and this application was made for a mandamus to compel the respondent to receive him. A return has been made to an order to show cause, in which the respondent insists that he is not authorized by the statute of this state to receive him, as he is not a citizen of the state, or a resident herein, but is an alien. Section 25 of Act No. 135, Pub. Acts 1885, as amended by Act No. 62, Pub. Acts 1887, after making provision for the disposition of indigent insane persons who have not gained a settlement in the county where the hearing takes place, but have gained a settlement in some other county of the state, and for the settlement of controversies arising respecting the liability of two or more counties for the maintenance of such insane persons, further provides that "Whenever the judge of probate of any county shall find that any pauper or indigent insane person brought before him has not acquired a legal settlement in any county of this state, he shall thereupon make an order to admit such insane person into an asylum for the insane there to be kept and maintained at the expense of the state, and shall at the same time certify his finding upon the question of such settlement to the secretary of state and to the medical superintendent of the asylum to which said insane person has been sent, and the state shall become responsible for the maintaining of said insane person as for other state patients." Section 23 of said Act No. 135, Pub. Acts 1885, as amended by Act No. 44, Pub. Acts 1897, after providing the manner of hearing in cases of indigent insane further provides: "The judge of probate on such hearing shall determine the question of insanity, and also the question of indigence, *** and if the judge of probate after such hearing shall certify that satisfactory proof has been adduced showing that such person is insane and his estate insufficient to support him and his family, or, if he has no family, himself, under the visitation of...