January 26, 1894 – The Minnesota Supreme
Court, “holding that the law passed last winter regulating the commitment of
insane persons to the asylum is invalid because it violates section 14 of the
United States constitution” and also that “section of the state constitution
that provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property
without due process of law.”
As a result, at least 470 patients “who have been
committed to the state asylums under the new law can, if their friends so
elect, be taken from the asylums on writ of habeas corpus and returned to the
counties from which they were sent for a second trial and recommitment” at the
expense of the state. “Still another effect is that in all probability the
friends of some of the patients could sue the superintendents of the insane
asylums for damages on account of false imprisonment.”
The Daily Star; Pipestone, Minn.; January
26, 1894; p. 2
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