In Re R.R.

I have never been insensible to the grave responsibility I am obliged to assume in the judicial determination of proceedings of this nature. Superior considerations of public welfare and of personal liberty are normally implicated. A study of the relevant medical and legal literature seems in some cases to lighten but little the perplexities and uncertainties encountered in the undertaking to reach a righteous decision.

On December 9th, 1927, the person whose liberation is now sought was adjudged to be an insane person and thereupon committed to the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton, where…