CHAPTER 227
OF THE
REVISED STATUTES, 1989
Short title
1 This Act may be cited as the Inebriates' Guardianship Act. R.S., c. 227, s. 1.
(a) "habitual drunkard" means any person who in the neighbourhood in which he resides has the reputation of being a drunkard;
(b) "interdiction" means the declaration of any person incapable by reason of habitual drunkenness of the management of his own business or affairs. R.S., c. 227, s. 2.
3 When any habitual drunkard by reason of such drunkenness
(a) squanders or mismanages his property;
(b) places his family in trouble or distress;
(c) transacts his business prejudicially to the interests of his family; or
(d) uses intoxicating liquor to such an extent that he thereby incurs the danger of ruining his health and shortening his life,
any judge of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court may pronounce the interdiction of such habitual drunkard and appoint a guardian to manage his affairs and control his person. R.S., c. 227, s. 3.
4 The application for such interdiction may be made by petition verified by affidavit by any relative or friend of such habitual drunkard. R.S., c. 227, s. 4.
5 The petition shall be personally served upon the habitual drunkard at a time when he is sober at least fourteen days before the day appointed by the judge for the hearing thereof. R.S., c. 227, s. 5.
6 Witnesses may be subpoenaed to attend at the hearing of the petition and their evidence, including their opinions, taken thereat under oath in support of the allegations contained in the petition, and the judge may require further evidence in support of the allegations in addition to that at first produced. R.S., c. 227, s. 6.
7 The person whose interdiction is prayed for may at the hearing of the petition examine witnesses to contradict the allegations of the petition and the evidence in support thereof. R.S., c. 227, s. 7.
8 All evidence taken at the hearing of any such petition shall be viva voce and in open court, but the judge may at any time for sufficient reason order that any particular fact or facts may be proved by affidavit, that the affidavit of any witness may be read at such hearing on such conditions as the judge thinks reasonable or that any witness whose attendance at the hearing ought for some sufficient cause to be dispensed with be examined by interrogatories or otherwise before a commissioner or examiner, provided that where it appears to the judge that the opposite party bona fide desires the production of a witness for cross-examination and that such witness can be produced, an order shall not be made authorizing the evidence of such witness to be given by affidavit. R.S., c. 227, s. 8.
9 Both the petitioner and the person sought to be interdicted may be represented by counsel at the hearing of the petition. R.S., c. 227, s. 9.
10 The decision of the judge shall be final, whether he grant the prayer of the petition or dismiss the same. R.S., c. 227, s. 10.
11 If any application for interdiction is dismissed, no application for interdiction of the same person shall be made until the expiration of three calendar months. R.S., c. 227, s. 11.
12 The child, if of the age of majority, of any person interdicted may be appointed guardian of such person. R.S., c. 227, s. 12.
13 The interdiction of any person and the appointment of a guardian under this Act shall have the same effect as the appointment of a guardian in the case of an incompetent person under the Incompetent Persons Act, and with respect to
(a) payment of the reasonable expenses incurred in opposing the application;
(c) actions and other legal proceedings;
(g) the security to be given by such guardian,
the provisions of the said Act shall apply to every person interdicted, to the estate of such person and to every guardian appointed under this Act. R.S., c. 227, s. 13; 2007, c. 17, s. 15.
14 The name of every person interdicted under this Act shall be inscribed in a book to be kept in the office of the registry of probate for the county in which such person resided at the date of the petition praying for his interdiction. R.S., c. 227, s. 14.
15 (1) A judge upon the application by petition of any person interdicted, and upon proof by such person that he has been of sober habits for one year next preceding the presentation of the petition, may discharge the order interdicting the person and appointing a guardian.
(2) The judge may in his discretion require notice of the application, and of the time of hearing the same, to be served on the guardian or others interested, in such manner as he deems proper, and may receive evidence in the same manner as on an application for interdiction.
(3) The person interdicted shall regain the exercise of his civil rights when an order is granted discharging the order of interdiction. R.S., c. 227, s. 15.
16 All proceedings under this Act shall be summary, and the forms in the Schedule or forms to the like effect, shall be sufficient, and the same shall not be attacked for any error in form before any court. R.S., c. 227, s. 16.
17 Every person who wilfully sells or gives to or procures for any person interdicted under this Act any intoxicating liquor shall for each such offence be liable to a penalty of fifty dollars, recoverable by the guardian for the use of the family of the person interdicted at any time within three months from the commission of the offence, and in default of payment of the penalty, together with the costs of suit, such person shall be imprisoned in the common jail for the term of three months, unless the penalty and costs and the costs of the imprisonment and of the conveyance of such person to the jail are sooner paid. R.S., c. 227, s. 17.
18 The Governor in Council may grant licences to keep asylums for the cure of drunkards, subject to such conditions respecting the granting and continuation thereof, the manner in which such asylums shall be conducted and the duties and obligations of the owners or managers thereof, as the Governor in Council from time to time determines. R.S., c. 227, s. 18.
19 The guardian of any person interdicted under this Act may place the person in any duly licensed institution for the cure of drunkards, upon such terms as are agreed on between the guardian and the manager or managers of the institution, and may remove him from the same whenever he deems it desirable after having received a certificate from the medical officer or manager of the institution certifying that in the opinion of such officer or manager the person so interdicted has been cured or is not likely to derive further benefit from longer detention and treatment in the institution. R.S., c. 227, s. 19.
Province of Nova Scotia,
County of . . . . . . . . . . . . .
To the Honourable A.B., one of the justices of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.
C.D., of . . . . . . . . . . in the County of . . . . . . . . . ., (occupation), humbly sheweth:
That for about . . . . . . . . . . year, E.F., of . . . . . . . . . . in the said County of . . . . . . . . . ., has been an habitual drunkard and that by reason of his drunkenness he squanders (or mismanages) his property (or places his family in trouble or distress or transacts his business prejudicially to the interests of his family or his relations, as the case may be,) and that therefore it is desirable that under the statute in such case made and provided the said E.F. be interdicted as an habitual drunkard.
Wherefore, your petitioner prays that an order be granted for the interdiction of the said E.F., as an habitual drunkard, and appointing a guardian of his estate.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
C.D.
I, C.D., of . . . . . . . . . . in the County of . . . . . . . . . ., make oath and say as follows:
I am the petitioner named in the foregoing petition. The allegations in the foregoing petition are true and the said petition is not made through malice nor with a view to oppress the said E.F., therein named.
Sworn to at . . . . . . . . . . . . in the
County of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . this
. . . . . . . . . . . day of . . . . . . . . . . .,
19. . . . ., before me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
C.D.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
G.H.
Commissioner of the Supreme Court
Upon reading the petition of C.D., and the affidavit verifying the same, it is ordered that E.F., in the said petition mentioned, appear before me in chambers in the . . . . . . . . . . at . . . . . . . . . . . in the County of . . . . . . . . . . on the . . . . . . . . . . day of . . . . . . . . . ., 19. . . . . at . . . . . . . . . . o'clock in the . . . . . . . . . .noon, for the purpose of proceeding on the said petition.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A.B.
Upon reading the petition of C.D., and the affidavit verifying the same, and the said petition having come on for hearing on the . . . . . . . . . . day of . . . . . . . . . ., and witnesses having been examined. It is declared that E.F., of . . . . . . . . . ., (occupation), named in said petition, is incapable by reason of habitual drunkenness of the management of his business and affairs.
It is further ordered that G.H., of . . . . . . . . . ., (occupation), be appointed guardian of the E.F. under and for the purposes of the Inebriates' Guardianship Act.
