Smith v. Bd. of Examiners of Feeble-Minded

• Citation: 85 N.J.L. 46,88 A. 963
• Parties: SMITH v. BOARD OF EXAMINERS OF FEEBLE-MINDED.
• Decision Date: 18 November 1913
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (New Jersey)

88 A. 963

85 N.J.L. 46

SMITH

v. BOARD OF EXAMINERS OF FEEBLE-MINDED.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Nov. 18, 1913.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Certiorari to Court of Common Pleas, Somerset County.

The Board of Examiners of Feeble-Minded ordered that an effective operation for the prevention of procreation be performed upon Alice Smith, and she brings certiorari. Order set aside.

The order brought up by this writ of certiorari is as follows:

"The Board of Examiners of Feeble-Minded (including idiots, imbeciles, and morons), Epileptics, Criminals and other Defectives, together with David F. Weeks, the chief physician of the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics, having, on the 31st day of May, 1912, regularly convened at the Administration Building at the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics (according to the provisions of chapter 190, p. 353, of the Laws of 1911, Statutes of the State of New Jersey), and at that time, in the presence of Azariah M. Beekman, counsel regularly appointed to represent Alice Smith, an inmate of said village, committed thereto on August 19, 1902, by Alfred F. Skinner, judge of the court of common pleas of Essex county, application for the appointment of said counsel having been made to and the appointment having been made, previous to the holding of said hearing, by the judge of the court of common pleas of the county of Somerset, in which county the institution in which the said Alice Smith is an inmate is located, having examined into the mental and physical condition of the said Alice Smith, do find and declare her to be an epileptic person within the meaning of the said act, and the said board, together with the chief physician of said institution, having unanimously found in the case of said Alice Smith that procreation by her is inadvisable, and that there is no probability that the condition of said Alice Smith, so examined, will improve to such an extent as to render procreation by said Alice Smith advisable:

"It is therefore, on this the 31st day of May, nineteen hundred and twelve, ordered that the operation of salpingectomy, as the most effective operation for the prevention of procreation, be performed upon the said Alice Smith in accordance with the motion at said hearing unanimously adopted."

The pertinent parts of the statute under which this order was made are as follows:

"An act to authorize and provide for the sterilization of feeble-minded (including idiots, imbeciles and morons), epileptics, rapists, certain criminals and other defectives. (P. L. 1911, p. 353.)

"Whereas, heredity plays a most important part in the transmission of feeble-mindedness, epilepsy, criminal tendencies and other defects:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

"1. Immediately after the passage of this act, the Governor shall appoint by and with the advice of the Senate, a surgeon and a neurologist, each of recognized ability, one for a term of three (3) years and one for a term of five (5) years, their successors each to be appointed for the full term of five years, who in conjunction with the commissioner of charities and corrections shall be known as and is hereby created the 'Board of Examiners of Feeble-Minded (including idiots, imbeciles and morons), Epileptics, Criminals and other Defectives,' whose duty it shall be, to examine into the mental and physical condition of the feeble-minded, epileptic, certain criminal and other defective inmates confined in the several reformatories, charitable and penal institutions in the counties and state.

"2. The criminals who shall come within the operation of this law shall be those who have been convicted of the crime of rape, or of such succession of offenses against the criminal law as in the opinion of this board of examiners shall be deemed to be sufficient evidence of confirmed criminal tendencies.

"3. Upon application of the superintendent or other administrative officer of any institution in which such inmates are or may be confined, or upon its own motions, the said Board of Examiners may call a meeting to take evidence and examine into the mental and physical condition of such inmates confined as aforesaid, and if said Board of Examiners, in conjunction with the chief physician of the institution, unanimously find that procreation is inadvisable, and that there is no probability that the condition of such inmate so examined shall improve to such an extent as to render procreation by such inmate advisable, it shall be lawful to perform such operation for the prevention of procreation as shall be decided by said Board of Examiners to be most effective, and thereupon it shall and may be lawful for any surgeon qualified under the laws of this state, under the direction of the chief physician of said institution, to perform such operation."

Argued June term, 1913, before GARRISON, TRENCHARD, and MINTURN, JJ.

Azariah M. Beekman, of Somerville, for prosecutrix.

Nelson B. Gaskill, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Elmore T. Elver, of Madison, Wis., on the brief), for defendant.

GARRISON, J. (after stating the facts as above). The question propounded is whether or not the statute under which the order now before us was made is a valid exercise of the police power. The statute, it will be observed, applies also to criminals, in which aspect it does not now concern us, since the prosecutrix is an epileptic, an unfortunate person, but not a criminal.

The order is made by the Board of Examiners provided by the act of April 21, 1911 (P. L. p. 353). Briefly stated, the order, after reciting that Alice Smith is an epileptic inmate of a state charitable institution, that procreation by her is inadvisable, and that there is no probability that her condition will improve to such an extent as to render procreation by her advisable, orders that the operation of salpingectomy be performed upon the said Alice Smith.

Salpingectomy is the incision or excision of the Fallopian tube, i. e., either cutting it off or cutting it out. The Fallopian tube is an essential part of the female reproductive system, and consists of a narrow conduit, some four inches in length, that extends on each side of a woman's body from the base of the womb to the ovary upon that side. These three organs—i. e., the ovary, the Fallopian tube, and the uterus—are all concerned in normal childbearing, the relation between them being that the unfecundated ovum which is periodically produced in the ovary passes down through the Fallopian tube into the body of the uterus, where, if fecundation by the male seed takes place, or has taken place, the embryo is formed and developed into the fetus or unborn child.

The statute is broad enough to authorize an operation for the removal of any one of these three organs essential to...