Yeomans v. Williams

In England the custody of lunatics and the management of their property have from a very early time been vested in the Crown. The Sovereign as parens patriae has been treated as the peculiar and rightful custodian and protector of all of such un*801fortunate persons. This authority was not exercised directly by the Sovereign, but through the chancellor, and not through him by virtue of his judicial office, but as the delegate of the Crown, and an' appeal from his order in such a matter was to the King in council and not to the House of Lords. These duties devolved upon the Sovereign under the…