PUBLIC LAWS OF THE State of North Carolina. SESSION 1899. CHAPTER 1. An act to revise, consolidate and amend the insanity laws of The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact: 66 for insane. SECTION 1. That the hospital for the insane, located near Morgan- Morganton hoston, shall be and remain a corporation under this name: The State pital for insane. Corporate name. Hospital at Morganton." The hospital for the insane, located near Raleigh hospital Raleigh, shall be and remain a corporation under this name: The State Hospital at Raleigh." The hospital for the insane, located near Corporate name. Goldsboro, shall be and remain a corporation under this name: "The Goldsboro hospital for insane. State Hospital at Goldsboro." Under such name each corporation Corporate name. is invested with all the property and rights heretofore held by each, under whatsoever name called or incorporated, and all other corpo- Corporate powers. rate names are hereby abolished. Hereafter in this act, when the above names are used, they shall be deemed to relate back to and Retroactive apinclude the corporation, under whatsoever name it might heretofore plication of title. have had. property. SEC. 2. The State Hospital at Morganton, and the State Hospital May acquire at Raleigh, and the State Hospital at Goldsboro, may each acquire and hold, for the purpose of its institution, real and personal property, by devise, bequest or by any manner of gift, purchase or conveyance whatsoever. which maintain SEC. 3. The State Hospital at Morganton, and the State Hospital Purpose for at Raleigh, shall be exclusively for the accommodation, maintenance, ed. care and treatment of the white insane and inebriates of this state, and the State Hospital at Goldsboro shall be exclusively for the accommodation, maintenance, care and treatment of the colored insane and inebriates of this state. SEC. 4. The line heretofore agreed upon by the directors of the Line of division. State Hospital at Morganton, and the State Hospital at Raleigh, shall be the line of division between the territories of the said hospitals, and white insane persons and inebriates settled in counties Directors may change line of division. Western and Eastern hospital districts. Number of directors. Quorum. Classes of directors. Term of office. to west of said line shall be admitted only into the State Hospital at Morganton, and white insane persons and inebriates settled in counties to the east of said line shall be admitted only into the State Hospital at Raleigh. The board of directors of these two hospitals may, by agreement, change said line from time to time whenever in their opinion such change may be proper, and they may, by agreement, transfer patients from one hospital to the other when such transfer may be deemed advantageous. That portion of the state which is or may hereafter be west of said division line shall be known as the Western Hospital District, and that portion of the state which is or may hereafter be east of said line shall be known as the Eastern Hospital District. ses. SEC. 5. Each corporation shall be under the management of a board of nine directors, no two of whom shall be resident of the same How appointed. county, nominated by the governor and by and with the advice and consent of a majority of the senators-elect, appointed by him, of whom five directors shall be a quorum, except when three of their number are hereby in this law empowered to act for special purpoEach board of directors shall be in classes of three, as they are now divided, and the term of office of such classes shall expire as follows: those of the first class, on the first day of April, nineteen hundred and one; of the second class, on the first day of April, nineteen hundred and three; and of the third class, on the first day of April, nineteen hundred and five. At the expiration of their said respective terms of office, all appointments shall be for a term of six years, except such as are made to fill unexpired terms.Every vaVacancies occur cancy occurring in any board of directors at a time when the genring. eral assembly shall not be in session, shall be filled by an election held by the remaining members of the board at their next regular meeting after the vacancy occurs, and the person thus elected shall hold office until his successor shall have been appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate as aforesaid, at the next regular meeting of the general assembly, Term of office of succeeding directors. Executive committee. Term of office. Powers of direct ors. SEC. 6. Each board of directors shall, out of their number, appoint three members as an executive committee, who shall hold their respective offices as such for one year, and shall have such powers and be subject to such duties as the board of directors may delegate to them. SEC. 7. Each board of directors shall direct and manage the affairs of their institution and shall for its purposes have power to receive, hold, manage, convey, or otherwise dispose of, in the name of their institution, all such property or estate as may hereafter be given or otherwise be conveyed to their corporation; and the members of Compensation of each board shall serve without reward, save their traveling expenses incurred in the discharge of their official duties. directors. SEC. 8. Each board of directors shall convene at the hospital of which it has charge, on the first Wednesday after the first Monday Time of meeting. in April of each year, and at such other times as they shall appoint, and investigate the administration of its affairs, and report on the same to the general assembly, with such remarks and recommendations as to them shall seem expedient. SEC. 9. Each board of directors shall appoint a superintendent of Appointment of superintendents. their institution and prescribe his duties. He shall be a skilled physician, educated to his profession, of good moral character, of prompt business habits, and of kindly disposition. He shall hold office for superintendent. six years from and after his appointment, unless sooner removed by Term of office. said board, who may, for infidelity to his trust, gross immorality or May be removed. incompetency to discharge the duties of his office, fully proved and declared, and the proofs thereof recorded in the book of their pro ceedings, remove him and appoint another in his place. SEC. 10. Each board of directors shall appoint one or more assist- Appointment of ant physicians, and with the advice and consent of the superintend- assistants. ent, prescribe his duties. The superintendent may, with the advice and consent of the executive committee of the board of directors, for insubordination, immorality, neglect of duty, or incompetency, Superintendent suspend an assistant physician until a meeting of the board of di- may suspend rectors can be called, which meeting shall be called as soon as practicable, in no event later than thirty days, when any charges pre- When charges are ferred by the superintendent are to be investigated, and such action preferred. taken as the board may deem best. Every assistant physician shall assistant. hold his place for two years from and after his appointment, unless Term of office of sooner removed for good cause, which shall be specified and recorded assistants. in their proceedings. SEC. 11. Each board of directors at their annual meeting shall, on Appointment of nomination of the superintendent, appoint a steward, and if they hospital corps. shall think proper to do so, a matron also, who shall hold their places for one year, unless sooner suspended or removed by the superintendent or board of directors for good cause, in which case their successors shall be nominated and appointed for the unexpired terms of those removed. The method of procedure for the suspension and removal of assistant physician, contained in the preceding section of this act, shall be followed in the suspension and removal of any steward or matron. The steward, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, shall execute to the hospital a bond in the sum of two steward shall exthousand and five hundred dollars, with sureties to be approved by ecute bond. the board of directors, conditioned for the faithful administration of his duties, and the proper accounting and disbursement of all money and property coming into his hands. The state treasurer shall be treasurer of said corporations. The state treasurer shall keep all State treasurer accounts of the institutions, and shall pay out all moneys upon the the treasurer of warrant of the respective superintendents, countersigned by two tions. members of the board of directors, under such rules and regulations as the respective boards may establish. these corpora Salaries, how fixed. Proviso. Proviso. Compensation shall be certain. Power of superintendent. By-laws and regulations to be made by direct ors. Reports shall be published. Proceedings for admission. SEC. 12. Each board of directors shall fix the salaries and compensation of the superintendent, and the officers and employees whose services may be necessary for the management of the hospital under charge of said board: Provided, that the salaries shall not be diminished during the term of the incumbents: Provided further, that the salary of the superintendent shall be a sum certain, without other compensation or allowance, except such rooms in the hospital for the use of his family, and such articles of food produced on the premises as said board of directors may permit. SEC. 13. Each superintendent shall exercise exclusive direction and control over all the subordinate officers and employees engaged in the service and labors of his hospital, and he may discharge such as have been employed by himself or his predecessors, and shall report to the board of directors of his hospital the misconduct of all subordinates. SEC. 14. Each board of directors shall make all such by-laws and regulations for the government of their institutions as shall be necessary; among which regulations shall be such as shall make the institution as nearly self-supporting as is consistent with the purpose of its creation. The board shall cause the by-laws and regulations, the report of the superintendent, and that of the treasurer, to be published with their report to the general assembly, copies of which shall be sent to the clerk of the superior [court] of every county in the state. SEC. 15. For admission into a state hospital, the following proceedings shall be had: Some respectable citizen, residing in the county of the alleged insane person, shall make before and file with the clerk of the superior court of the county, an affidavit in writing, which shall be substantially in the following form: STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, County. The undersigned, residing in said county, makes oath that he has carefully examined ............................ and believes him to be an insane person, and to be, in the opinion of the undersigned, a fit subject for admission into a hospital for the insane. Whereupon, unless the person in whose care or custody the insane person is, will agree to bring him before said clerk without a warrant, or unless the clerk shall be of the opinion that it will be injurious to the insane person to be brought before him, the clerk shall issue a precept, directed to the sheriff or other lawful officer, substantially in the following form: |