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1 Ves. Jr. 296, "is to have every comfort that his circumstances will admit of," and he said in another case (Ex parte Whitehead, 2 Merv. 99), "the court has nothing to consider but the situation of the lunatic himself, always looking to the probability of his recovery, and never regarding the interest of the next of kin. The court does nothing wantonly or unnecessarily to alter the lunatic's property; but, on the contrary, takes care of it for his sake, that if he recover he shall find his estate, as nearly as possible, in the same condition as he left it, applying the property in the mean time as the court thinks it would have been wise and prudent in the lunatic himself to apply it if he had been capable." To which I may add the observation of Chancellor Kent, in Eunice Saulsberry's Case, 3 Johns. Ch. 347, that "the governing principle in the management of the estate is the lunatic's interest, not that of those who may have eventual rights of succession." See, also, In the matter of Livingston, 1 Johns. Ch. 436; In the matter of Taylor, 9 Paige, 611; In the matter of Willoughby, 11 id. 259; In the matter of Heeny, 2 Barb. Ch. 326; 'In the matter of Shep, Abm. part 3, p. 71.

I have referred to the authority of these eminent judges in the exposition of the nature of this jurisdiction, and of the principles which govern in the exercise of it, because it indicates the extent of the power with which the court is clothed, and because what I am asked to do involves a very heavy expenditure and charge upon the lunatic's estate, which I should not impose unless it be clear that I have the power to do so, and that it is necessary for his benefit.

Acting upon the general principle that the court is empowered to do whatever is best for the lunatic himself, without any regard to the effect it may have upon the ultimate interests of others, it becomes very plain to my mind that if the removal of him to a place beyond the limits of the jurisdiction of the court is, as a sanitary measure, essential to him and for his benefit, it is competent for the court to direct it to be done, and, so far as it has the means, to see that it is carried out. It is true that the custody of a lunatic is always given by the court to a committee, and that, when this committee goes with his charge beyond the jurisdiction of this court, it has no longer any power or control over either; but this does not constitute a sufficient reason for keeping the lunatic within the court's territorial limits when, in the opinion of those who are most competent to judge, the effect of so doing is prejudicial to his health, and tends to lessen the chances of his recovery. The court is to do what is for his benefit, and, when it has taken every precaution, in seeing that he is intrusted to the care of a person who, in the judgment of the court, will faithfully execute the trust committed to him by taking the lunatic to the designated place, and who will fulfill every instruction given. For the faithful discharge of that delicate duty the court does what it ought to do under the circumstances, and in so doing but carries out the philanthropic purpose which lies at the very foundation of the jurisdiction which it consents to give up. I do not find in the reports any adjudged case covering the precise point here presented. In re Hackett, 3 Irish Ch. 375, the lunatic was transferred from Ireland to England. It was beyond the jurisdiction of the chancellor having custody of his person, but the jurisdiction of each chancellor was a part of the prerogative of the same sovereign. In the matter of Houston, 1 Rus. 311, the lunatic was brought by his committee

from Jamaica to England, for the benefit of his health, but by what authority is not stated, the only point in the case being whether another commission was necessary in England, which the court held was necessary. In Briggs v. Terry, 1 Myl. & Craig, 675, an infant ward of the court of chancery was allowed, upon application, to go to France to see his father in the custody of a person giving security that he would bring him back within a given period; and In re Jones, 1 Pr. 461, leave was given for a lunatic, under particular circumstances, to reside in Scotland, his committee who resided in England undertaking to bring him within the jurisdiction of the court whenever required.

Although these cases have some bearing upon the question before me, they are not precisely analogous, but there is an unreported case exactly in point, of which I have been advised by the professional gentleman by whom it was instituted. In the year 1840, John Gravillon, a well-known wealthy French merchant in this city, and an alien, became insane and was placed in the asylum at Bloomingdale. A commission of lunacy having been granted, and a committee of his person and estate appointed, the committee, upon a certificate of the resident physician of the asylum, that an improvement of Mr. Gravillon's general health might be expected from a sea voyage, applied to ViceChancellor McCoun for authority to send him to France in charge of a physician and two nurses, and to place him in a maison de sante in Paris. The application was granted. He was taken to France and placed in an institution in Paris, where he died two years afterward, and the expense incurred was paid out of his estate.

My conclusion, after this review of the law, is, that I have the power; and, in respect to the expediency and necessity of its exercise, I regard the opinions of the physicians as conclusive.

The committee of the estate will be directed to pay out such sums as may be subsequently directed by order, to defray the expenses of the journey from here to Bombay, and, upon return of the committee of the person who will take Colah to Bombay, the court will adjust and fix upon a proper sum to be paid to him out of the estate, for the discharge of this trust, which will not be regulated by the commissions given by the Revised Statutes to executors, administrators or guardians (2 R. S., 93, § 58), as is the rule in committees of the estate. In the matter of Livingston, 2 Denio, 575; 9 Paige, 440, that measure not being applicable where there is a separate committee of the person, but will be regarded as an actual and necessary expense, which would have to be paid out of the estate, to some one, and is incurred, in this instance, to the gentleman who is the committee of the person, for the reason that he can communicate with the lunatic in the only tongue in which he can or will speak, and is, from that and many other reasons, a most appropriate one to whom to confide the execution of this most delicate and very responsible trust, which it would be unreasonable to expect him to discharge for the benefit of this friendless stranger, unless he is remunerated for his time and trouble. It will involve, in the meanwhile, the abandonment of his business here, and is to be regarded like the cases of Annesly, Amb. 78; of Evington, Jacobs, 406; 2 Russ. 567; and of Ord, id. 94, as an exceptional one to the general rule, that no compensation will be allowed to the committee of a lunatic for his personal services. Anonymous, 10 Ves. 103; Shelford on Lunacy, 163.

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