Sec. 5. Secretary to preserve proceedings of board; contractshow executed.

Sec. 6. Commissioners to prescribe rules for the custody of insane and to advertise for sealed proposals.

Sec. 7. Commissioners to contract with lowest bidder for care and maintenance of insane.

Sec. 8. One of commissioners to visit and inspect insane once in three months.

Sec. 9. Commissioners to certify amount due for maintenance of insane to auditor.

Sec. 10. Contractor to provide a suitable building for insane. Sec. 11. Probate judge or county commissioners to have insane person brought before him, to summon jury; proceedings thereon.

Sec. 12. Commissioners may annul contract and re-let it. Sec. 13. District attorney to sue for and collect amount expended for maintenance, &c., of lunatic.

Sec. 14. Pay and allowance of commissioners.

Sec. 15. Commissioners to certify amount to auditor.

Sec. 16. Fees of probate judge or county commissioners for examination.

Sec. 17. Fees of sheriff for services.

Sec. 18. Commissioners to report to legislature; governor to fill

vacancy.

Sec. 19. Appropriation to carry this act into effect.

Section 1. There shall be elected during the present session of the legislative assembly of the territory of Montana, and bienially at each regular session thereof, by the legislative assembly, in joint convention assembled, one commissioner from each of the judicial districts, as the same are or may be established by law in this territory, who shall constitute the board of commissioners for the insane of Montana Terrritory, and who shall exercise the powers and perform the duties hereinafter mentioned.

Sec. 2. Said commissioners shall hold their offices respectively for the term of two years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified.

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the secretary of the legislative council, immediately, to notify the persons who may be elected under the provisions of this act, of their election, by transmitting to each of them, by the most speedy and reliable means, a copy of the proceedings of such joint convention relating to said election; and the person so elected shall, within ten days after such election, take and subscribe to the following oath: I, A. B., do solemnly swear that I will truly and faithfully discharge the duties of a member of the board of commissioners for the insane of Montana Territory; that I will carefully guard against any and

all improper expenditures of money in all transactions connected with said board; and that I am not now, and will not be during the continuance of my official term, directly or indirectly interested in any bid or contract made by said board. Who shall give a joint bond in good and sufficient security for the faithful performance of their duty, in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, which oath and bond shall be filed with the secretary of the territory.

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the board of commissioners aforesaid, as soon as practicable after taking the oath aforesaid, and within forty days after their election, to meet at any place within the judicial districts they may agree upon, and shall organize by electing one of their number as president, and one of them as secretary of said board.

Sec. 5. The secretary shall keep and preserve written minutes of all proceedings of said board, and shall deliver the same to his successor, and each one of said commissioners shall have one vote in determining any question or transacting any business by said board, and all contracts of said board shall be executed in the name of the territory of Montana, by the president and secretary of such board.

Sec. 6. The said commissioners shall have the power to prescribe all necessary rules for the proper custody, maintenance, and treatment of all persons adjudged insane, as hereinafter provided, within this territory; and it shall be their duty to publish the same, inviting sealed proposals, within a period of thirty days thereafter, for the custody, maintenance, and treatment of such insane persons in accordance with such rules; which publication shall be made in some newspaper published in each one of said districts in which a newspaper shall be published, and the first number of which newspaper containing such publication shall be published at least thirty days before any contract shall be made by said commissioners by virtue of this act. All proposals tendered in pursuance of said publication shall be accompanied by a bond in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, with sufficient sureties, to be approved by the president of said board, conditioned for the faithful performance of the terms of the contract in case such proposal shall be accepted.

Sec. 7. Said commissioners shall canvass all proposals received in accordance with said publication, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to contract on behalf and in the name of the territory of Montana, with the lowest and best bidder, for the care, custody, and maintenance of such insane persons, in accordance with the requirements published as aforesaid; but said commissioners shall have and reserve the power to reject any and all of such proposals; and such contracts shall require the person or persons entering into the same to receive all persons adjudged

insane and delivered to him or them, as hereinafter provided; and to keep, maintain, and treat them in accordance with the requirements of said commissioners; and shall specify the compensation agreed upon for each of such insane persons.

Sec. 8. Said commissioners shall, at all times, have free access to said insane persons, and it is hereby made their duty to elect one of their board, whose duty it shall be to visit and inspect the condition of all insane persons provided for by this act, at least once in three months.

Sec. 9. The said commissioners shall, upon the application of the person or persons having the custody of said insane persons, under such contract, at the end of each quarter, certify to the territorial auditor the amount due to such person therefor; and it shall be the duty of such auditor to draw his warrant upon the territorial treasurer for such amount, payable out of the moneys hereinafter appropriated.

Sec. 10. The said contract shall require the person or persons entering into the same to provide and keep a secure and suitable building for the safe and proper keeping of such insane persons in the manner prescribed by said commissioners; and such person shall immediately transmit and cause to be filed in the office of the probate judge in each county in the territory a notification of the place at which insane persons from such county shall be delivered for safe keeping and treatment under the provisions

hereof.

Sec. 11. From and after the passage of this act, it shall be the duty of the probate judge, or, in his absence or inability to act, the chairman of the boards of the county commissioners of the several counties of this territory, upon the application of any person under oath, setting forth that any person, by reason of insanity, is unsafe to be at large, or is suffering under mental derangement, to cause the said person to be brought before him at such time and place as he may direct, and the said judge or commissioner shall also cause to appear, at the same time and place, a jury of three citizens of his county, one of whom shall be a licensed practising physician, who shall proceed to examine the person alleged to be insane, and if such jury, after careful examination, shall certify, upon oath, that the charge is correct, and the said probate judge or commissioner is satisfied that such person, by reason of insanity, is unsafe to be at large, or is incompetent to provide for his or her own proper care and support, and has no property applicable to such purpose, and has no kindred in the degree of husband or wife, father or mother, children, or brother or sister, living within this territory, of sufficient means and ability to provide for such care and maintenance, or if he or she have such kindred within the territory, and such kindred fail or refuse to properly care for and maintain such insane per

son, such judge or county commissioner shall make out duplicate warrants, reciting such facts, and place them in the hands of the sheriff of said county, who shall immediately, in compliance therewith, convey the person or persons therein named, and deliver him, her, or them, to the contractor aforesaid, at the place designated in the notification herein required, and such contractor shall acknowledge, by endorsement in writing, upon the back of each of said warrants, the delivery of such persons described therein to him, and the date thereof; and such sheriff shall return one of said warrants to the officer issuing the same, and forward the other to the secretary of the board of commissioners aforesaid, who shall file and preserve the same.

Sec. 12. In case such contractor shall fail to perform his agreement, said commissioners may declare said contract annulled, and may proceed to re-advertise and re-let the same, in the meantime provide for the custody and care of such insane persons as may be under the care of such contractor, and such contractor and his sureties shall be liable for all damages sustained by reason of such failure.

Sec. 13. The district attorneys of the several districts of this territory shall, at the request of the said board of commissioners, sue for, recover, and collect from the property of any insane person maintained under the provisions hereof, sent from any county in such district, or from any person or persons legally bound to support such insane person or persons, the amount expended in the arrest, examination, and transportation of such insane person, and in his or her custody, maintenance, and treatment.

Sec. 14. Said commissioners shall each be allowed the sum of six dollars for each day they may be actually and necessarily engaged in the discharge of their duties as herein prescribed, and twenty cents for each mile actually and necessarily travelled by them in the performance of such duties.

Sec. 15. Said commissioners shall certify to the territorial auditor such amounts as may be payable for expenses incurred by virtue hereof, and the auditor shall draw his warrant upon the territorial treasurer therefor.

Sec. 16. There shall be allowed to the probate judge or commissioner the following fees: For the examination, to include all necessary entries, three dollars; for each warrant issued, one dollar.

Sec. 17. And there shall be allowed to the sheriff the following fees: For arresting and bringing the person charged with insanity before the probate judge, or, in the absence of the judge, the chairman of the county commissioners, and snbpoenaing witnesses, the same fees as are allowed by law in other cases; for taking an insane person to the place designated by the probate judge or chairman aforesaid, five dollars per day for the time

necessarily employed, and twenty cents for each mile necessarily travelled, and all necessary disbursements for the support of the insane person, to be audited by the county commissioners and paid out of the county treasury of the county in which said person shall be adjudged insane.

Sec. 18. It shall be the duty of said board of commissioners to make full report of all their proceedings under this act to the legislative assembly at such regular session thereafter; and in case a vacancy occurring in said board during a recess of the assembly, the governor shall designate some suitable person to fill such vacancy until the next meeting of the legislative assembly.

Sec. 19. The sum of fifteen thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act during the years commencing January 1st, 1870, and January 1st, 1871.'

CHAPTER XXXII.

INFANTS.

Section 1. That all male persons of the age of twenty-one years, and all females of the age of eighteen years, and who are under no legal disability, shall be capable of entering into any contract, and shall be, to all intents and purposes, held and considered to be of lawful age.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

INTEREST.

Sec. 1. Legal rate of interest.

Sec. 2. Creditors allowed to collect ten per cent. interest in cer

tain cases.

Sec. 3. Parties may agree to higher rate of interest; agreement to be enforced by courts.

Section 1. The legal rate of interest on the forbearance or loan of any money, when there is no agreement between the parties, as specified in section three of this act, shall be ten per centum per annum.

Sec. 2. Creditors shall be allowed to collect and receive interest when there is no agreement as to the rate thereof, at the rate of ten per cent. per annum for all moneys after they become due,