Tag: Mental Health Act 1959

What was the Lunacy (Vacating of Seats) Act 1886?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

The Lunacy (Vacating of Seats) Act 1886 (49 Vict.c.16) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It provided a mechanism for a Member of Parliament who was judged to be of unsound mind to be removed from his seat.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

There had been a number of cases of Members of Parliament who were felt, in the language of the time, to be lunatics. The most celebrated of these was John Bell the MP for Thirsk who in July 1849 was found to be insane by a commission of enquiry. It was then discovered that there was no way of depriving him of his seat and he remained a Member until his death in 1851.

In January 1886, Charles Cameron (later Sir Charles), known in the House of Commons as Dr Cameron, introduced the Lunacy (Vacating of Seats) Bill to deal with the problem. His determination was such that despite being a private members bill it went through all its Parliamentary stages with little opposition, in less than five months and received its Royal Assent on 10 May 1886, hence becoming the Lunacy (Vacating of Seats) Act 1886.

The Act

The Act was very short, barely more than a page long; and containing only three paragraphs.

It states what should happen if any member of the House of Commons should be committed to a lunatic asylum:

All those involved with the committal must send a report to the Speaker of the House of Commons or face a fine.

The Speaker should send the reports to the Commissioners in Lunacy and that two of them should visit the member and report to the Speaker. If the report is that he is of unsound mind then after six months the Speaker should request a further visit. If this second visit shows that the member is still of unsound mind then the reports are placed on the table in the House of Commons and at that point the seat of the member is declared vacant, and a byelection is called for his replacement.

Consequences

In practice there was a reluctance to call on the Act and it was only used once in the rather special circumstances of the First World War. An election was overdue and during the hostilities it was impossible to hold one. In August 1916, in these circumstances, Charles Leach, the MP for Colne Valley, was declared of unsound mind and relieved of his seat.

Repeal

The Lunacy (Vacating of Seats) Act 1886 was repealed and replaced by the Mental Health Act 1959; the Mental Health Act 1959 was itself repealed and replaced by the Mental Health Act 1983.

The section was subsequently repealed by the Mental Health (Discrimination) Act 2013.

What was the Mental Health Act 1959?

Published on by Andrew Marshall4 Comments

Introduction

The Mental Health Act 1959 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales which had, as its main objectives, to abolish the distinction between psychiatric hospitals and other types of hospitals and to deinstituitionalise mental health patients and see them treated more by community care.

An Act to Repeal the Lunacy and mental Treatment Acts 1890 to 1930, and the Mental Deficiency Acts 1913 to 1938, and to make fresh provisions with respect to the treatment and care of mentally disordered persons and with respect to their property and affairs, and for purposes connected with matters aforesaid.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

The Act also defined the term mental disorder for the first time: “mental illness as distinct from learning disability. The definition was “mental illness; arrest or incomplete development of mind; psychopathic disorder; and any other disorder or disability of mind”.

At the time, 0.4% of the population of England were housed in asylums, receiving the standard treatments of the time. Their treatment was considered by the 1957 Percy Commission (A central purpose of the Percy Commission was to assess the extent to which people with mental disorders could be treated as voluntary patients.) and the act resulted from its deliberations. The act was designed to make:

  • Treatment voluntary and informal; and
  • Where compulsory give it a proper legal framework and made as a medical decision; and
  • To move treatment, where possible, away from institutional care to that in the community.

The Act repealed the Lunacy and Mental Treatment Acts 1890 to 1930 and the Mental Deficiency Acts 1913 to 1938.

One of the changes introduced by the Act was the abolishment of the category of “moral imbecile”. The category, which had been introduced in 1913, had been defined in so vague terms that it had allowed also mothers of illegitimate children, especially in case of repeated births out of wedlock, to be regarded as “moral imbeciles” and thus to be placed in an institution for defectives or to be placed under guardianship.

Refer to Mental Health Act 1983, the Royal Commission on the Law Relating to Mental Illness and Mental Deficiency (scans of original document can be found here).

What was the Medical Treatment Act 1930?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

The Mental Treatment Act 1930 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permitted voluntary admission to, and outpatient treatment within, psychiatric hospitals.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

It also replaced the term “asylum” with “mental hospital”.

It was repealed by the Mental Health Act 1959.

What was the Mental Deficiency Act 1913?

Published on by Andrew Marshall3 Comments

Introduction

The Mental Deficiency Act 1913 was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which made provisions for the institutional treatment of people deemed to be “feeble-minded” and “moral defectives”.

“It proposed an institutional separation so that mental defectives should be taken out of Poor Law institutions and prisons into newly established colonies.”

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

The Idiots Act 1886 made the legal distinction between “idiots” and “imbeciles”. It contained educational provisions for the needs of people deemed to be in these categories. In 1904 the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-Minded was set up with the warrant “to consider the existing methods of dealing with idiots and epileptics, and with imbecile, feeble-minded, or defective persons not certified under the Lunacy Laws… to report as to the amendments in the law or other measures which should be adopted in the matter”. The Commission returned a lengthy report in 1908 which estimated that of a population of 32,527,843 British inhabitants 149,628 people (0.46%) were considered “mentally defective”. It recommended the establishment of a board of control which would oversee local authority efforts aimed at “the well-being of the mentally defective”.

Winston Churchill spoke of the need to introduce compulsory labour camps for “mental defectives” in the House of Commons in February 1911. In May 1912 a Private Members’ Bill entitled the “Feeble-Minded Control Bill” was introduced in the House of Commons, which called for the implementation of the Royal Commission’s conclusions. It rejected sterilisation of the “feeble-minded”, but had provision for registration and segregation. One of the few voices raised against the bill was that of G.K. Chesterton who ridiculed the bill, calling it the “Feeble-Minded Bill, both for brevity and because the description is strictly accurate”. The bill was withdrawn, but a government bill introduced on 10 June 1912 replaced it, which would become the Mental Deficiency Act 1913.

Mental Deficiency Act

The bill was passed in 1913 with only three MPs voting against it. One of them was Josiah Wedgwood, who attempted to filibuster and said of it, “It is a spirit of the Horrible Eugenic Society which is setting out to breed up the working class as though they were cattle.” The new act repealed the Idiots Act 1886 and followed the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-Minded. It established the Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency to oversee the implementation of provisions for the care and management of four classes of people,

a) Idiots. Those so deeply defective as to be unable to guard themselves against common physical dangers.
b) Imbeciles. Whose defectiveness does not amount to idiocy, but is so pronounced that they are incapable of managing themselves or their affairs, or, in the case of children, of being taught to do so.
c) Feeble-minded persons. Whose weakness does not amount to imbecility, yet who require care, supervision, or control, for their protection or for the protection of others, or, in the case of children, are incapable of receiving benefit from the instruction in ordinary schools.
d) Moral Imbeciles. Displaying mental weakness coupled with strong vicious or criminal propensities, and on whom punishment has little or no deterrent effect.

A person deemed to be an idiot or imbecile might be placed in an institution or under guardianship if the parent or guardian so petitioned, as could a person of any of the four categories under 21 years, as could a person of any category who had been abandoned, neglected, guilty of a crime, in a state institution, habitually drunk, or unable to be schooled.

At the height of operation of the Mental Deficiency Act, 65,000 people were placed in “colonies” or in other institutional settings.

The act remained in effect until it was repealed by the Mental Health Act 1959.