An Act for Amending and Enforcing the Laws; An Act Prevent Lunaticks
Two Acts Dealing With "Lunaticks" and the "Furiously Mad" [Great Britain]. An Act for Amending and Enforcing the Laws Relating to Rogues, Vagabonds, And Other Idle and Disorderly Persons, And for Reducing the Same into One Act of Parliament; And Also for Amending the Laws for Erecting, Providing, And Regulating Houses of Correction [Drop-Head Title]. At head of drop-head title: Anno Decimo Tertio Georgii II. Regis. London: Printed by John Baskett, 1740. [ii], 463-490 pp. Woodcut royal arms to title page. [With] An Act to Prevent the Marriage of Lunaticks [Drop-Head Title]. At head of drop-head title: Anno Decimo Quinto & Sexto Georgii II. Regis. London: Printed by Thomas Baskett and Robert Baskett, 1742. [ii], 707-708 pp. Woodcut royal arms to title page. Folio (12-1/4" x 8"). Disbound stab-stitched pamphlets. Light toning, somewhat heavier in places, occasional light foxing, leaves of first Act separating along spine. $650. * Only editions. The first act deals with the treatment and confinement of vagrants, particularly the mentally ill "of little or no Estates, who by Lunacy, or otherwise, are furiously mad or so far disordered in their senses" that they pose a risk to the public. The act made it legal to effectively imprison such people without charge. The second act disallows the marriages of "Persons who have the Misfortune to become Lunaticks" on the grounds that they are "liable to be surprized into unsuitable Marriages." Acts such as these were compiled over the course of a session and bound afterwards. They were issued with general title pages, which were often discarded but are present in the issues offered here. OCLC locates no single copies of the second act and 1 copy of the first (New York Public Library). English Short-Title Catalogue N51613, N51752.
Price: $650.00
Book number 73134