Helen B. Cornell

On April 23, 1936, Helen B. Cornell was admitted to, and detained in, the Brattleboro Retreat upon a certificate that she was insane and dangerous made by two physicians. On November 21, 1940, while she was still detained, Minnie M. Beard, as her next friend, filed a petition in the probate court for an appeal from the decision of the physicians certifying to her insanity, and therein prayed for a trial by jury under the provisions of P. L. 4038. This petition, among other things, shows that said Cornell was already at the Retreat when she was examined by the physicians, and was confined under their certificate immediately after it was signed, that no notice of such examination was given to her or to the petitioner, that the petitioner did not learn of such certificate until September 15, 1940, and that the said Cornell is not insane and dangerous. The petition was opposed by the state's attorney, who filed a motion to dismiss upon the grounds that the probate court was without jurisdiction because of laches on the part of said Cornell and the petitioner, and that the appeal was not taken within a reasonable time or within twenty-one days from the date of commitment. From the dismissal of her petition for an appeal the petitioner has appealed. The question for determination is whether the appeal to the probate court was seasonably taken. [1] As the right to an appeal is governed by statute, we will at the outset call attention to the applicable provisions of chapter 165 of the Public Laws.