Mason v. Commonwealth

STANLEY, Commissioner.

A proceeding was instituted in the Shelby Circuit Court in the name of the Commonwealth to inquire into the mental state of Mrs. Allie Reese Mason, an elderly widow. She resisted the inquisition. The verdict was that Mrs. Mason was “incompetent to manage her affairs.” It was not wholly responsive to the instruction which called upon the jury to say whether she was “so mentally ill and mentally defective as to be unable and incompetent to manage her own estate” and “how long she has been in that condition”, and some details as to her age and amount of her estate. The form…