Appeal against an Order under Section 8 of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913

Date01 July 1950
Published date01 July 1950
DOI10.1177/002201835001400308
Subject MatterArticle
Appeal Against an Order under Section
8 of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913
A
PERSON
who is a defective within
the
meaning of
the
Mental Deficiency Acts
may
be detained in
an
institution or placed under guardianship in one of four
ways,
(a)
at
the
instance of his
parent
or guardian,
(b)
by
the
order of a judicial authority on petition,
(c)
by
the
order
of a court where
the
defective has been found guilty of a
criminal offence punishable
by
imprisonment in
the
case
of
an
adult, or is liable to be sent
to
an
approved school in
the
case of a juvenile,
and
(d)
by
the
order of
the
Secretary
of
State
where
the
defective is detained in a prison, remand
home, approved school etc. One
may
search in vain for a
right of appeal in
the
ordinary sense of
the
word against
such
an
order, which as soon as
it
is made brings
the
defec-
tive within
the
jurisdiction
and
powers of
the
Board of
Control. There is substituted machinery whereby
the
case is reviewed from time to time
by
the
Board on special
reports made
to
it
by
the
visiting justices. The defective
or his
parent
or guardian
may
appeal against
that
decision,
not, be
it
noted, to
any
court,
but
to
the
Board itself.
Of
the
four methods
by
which a mental deficiency
order
may
be made, we are concerned with case
(c)
only,
where
the
order is made
by
amagistrates' court under s. 8
of
the
Mental Deficiency Act 1913 as amended
by
subse-
quent legislation. At first sight
it
would seem
that
there
should be a right of appeal as a
matter
of course
to
the
appropriate appellate tribunal, which in
the
case of a
magistrates' court is
the
local court of quarter sessions.
Before considering this,
the
provisions of s. 8(1) should be
studied.
That
sub-section provides
:-
"(1)" On
the
conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction of
any
person of any criminal offence punishable in
the
case of an
adult
with imprisonment, or on a child brought before a court under
section fifty-eight of
the
Children Act 1908 (which is to be construed
as referring to Sections 61(1) (a), (2), 62, 64 and 65 of
the
Children
and
Young Persons Act 1933) being found liable to be
sent
to an
3140

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