Mental Deficiency Act 1913
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1913 c. 28 |
| Year | 1913 |
Mental Deficiency Act, 1913.
(3 & 4 Geo. 5.) 28.
An Act to make further and better provision for the care of Feeble-minded and other Mentally Defective Persons and to amend the Lunacy Acts.
[15th August 1913]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Part I.
Power and Manner of dealing with Defectives.
Powers of dealing with Defectives.
1 Definition of defectives.
1. The following classes of persons who are mentally defective shall be deemed to be defectives within the meaning of this Act:—
2 Circumstances rendering defectives subject to be dealt with.
(1) A person who is a defective may be dealt with under this Act by being sent to or placed in an institution for defectives or placed under guardianship—
(a ) at the instance of his parent or guardian, if he is an idiot or imbecile, or at the instance of his parent if, though not an idiot or imbecile, he is under the age of twenty-one; or
(b ) if in addition to being a defective he is a person—
(i) who is found neglected, abandoned, or without visible means of support, or cruelly treated; or
(ii) who is found guilty of any criminal offence, or who is ordered or found liable to be ordered to be sent to a certified industrial school;
(iii) who is undergoing imprisonment (except imprisonment under civil process), or penal servitude, or is undergoing detention in a place of detention by order of a court, or in a reformatory or industrial school, or in an inebriate reformatory or who is detained in an institution for lunatics or a criminal lunatic asylum; or
(iv) who is an habitual drunkard within the meaning of the Inebriates Acts, 1879 to 1900; or
(v) in whose case such notice has been given by the local education authority as is herein-after in this section mentioned; or
(vi) who is in receipt of poor relief at the time of giving birth to an illegitimate child or when pregnant of such child.
(2) Notice shall, subject to regulations made by the Board of Education, to be laid before Parliament as hereinafter provided, be given by the local education authority to the local authority under this Act in the case of all defective children over the age of seven—
(a ) who have been ascertained to be incapable by reason of mental defect of receiving benefit or further benefit in special schools or classes, or who cannot be instructed in a special school or class without detriment to the interests or the other children, or as respects whom the Board of Education certify that there are special circumstances which render it desirable that they should be dealt with under this Act by way of supervision or guardianship;
(b ) who on or before attaining the age of sixteen are about to be withdrawn or discharged from a special school or class, and in whose case the local education authority are of opinion that it would be to their benefit that they should be sent to an institution or placed under guardianship.
3 Power to deal with defectives at instance of parent or guardian.
(1) The parent or guardian of a defective who is an idiot or imbecile, and the parent of a defective who though not an idiot or imbecile is under the age of twenty-one, may place him in an institution or under guardianship: Provided that he shall not be so placed in an institution or under guardianship, except upon certificates in the prescribed form signed by two duly qualified medical practitioners, one of whom shall be a medical practitioner approved for the purpose by the local authority or the Board, and, where the defective is not an idiot or imbecile, also signed, after such inquiry as he shall think fit, by a judicial authority for the purposes of this Act, stating that the signatories of the certificate are severally satisfied that the person to whom the certificate relates is a defective and the class of defectives to which he belongs, accompanied by a statement, signed by the parent or guardian, giving the prescribed particulars with respect to him.
(2) Where a defective has been so placed in an institution for defectives or under guardianship, the managers of the institution, or the person under whose guardianship he has been placed, shall, within seven days after his reception send to the Board of Control hereinafter constituted (in this Act referred to as the Board) notice of his reception and such other particulars as may be prescribed.
4 Power to deal with defectives otherwise than at instance of parent of guardian.
4. A defective subject to be dealt with under this Act otherwise than under paragraph (a ) of subsection (1) of section two of this Act may so be dealt with—
but no such order shall be made except in the circumstances and in the manner herein-after specified.
Requirements as to the making of Orders.
5 Presentation of petitions.
(1) An order of a judicial authority under this Act shall be obtainable upon a private application by petition made by any relative or friend of the alleged defective, or by any officer of the local authority under this Act authorised in that behalf.
(2) Every petition shall be accompanied by two medical certifica es, one of which shall be signed by a medical practitioner approved for the purpose by the local authority or the Board, or a certificate that a medical examination was impracticable, and by a statutory declaration made by the petitioner and by at least one other person (who may be one of the persons who gave a medical certificate) stating—
(a ) that the person to whom the petition relates is a defective within the meaning of this Act, and the class of defectives to which he is alleged to belong; and
(b ) that that person is subject to be dealt with under this Act, and the circumstances which render him so subject; and
(c ) whether or not a petition under this Act, or a petition for a reception order under the Lunacy Acts, 1890 to 1911, has previously been presented concerning that person, and, if such a petition has been presented, the date thereof and the result of the proceedings thereon; and
(d ) if the petition is accompanied by a certificate that a medical examination was impracticable, the circumstances which rendered it impracticable.
(3) If a petition is not presented by a relative or by an officer of the local authority, it shall contain a statement of the reasons why the petition is not presented by a relative, and of the connection of the petitioner with the person to whom the petition relates and the circumstances under which he presents the petition.
(4) Where the Board are satisfied that a petition under this section ought to be presented concerning any person, and that the local authority have refused or neglected to cause a petition to be presented, they may direct an inspector or other officer to present a petition, and this section shall apply accodingly.
6 Procedure on hearing petitions.
(1) Upon the presentation of the petition and such documents as aforesaid, the judicial authority shall either visit the person to whom the petition relates or summon him to appear before him.
(2) Proceedings before the judicial authority may, in any case if the judicial authority thinks fit, and shall, if so desired by the person to whom the petition relates, be conducted in private, and in that case no one except the petitioner, the person to whom the petition relates, his parents or guardian and any two persons appointed for the purpose by the person to whom the petition relates, or by his parents or guardian, and the persons signing the medical certificates and the statutory declaration accompanying the petition shall, without leave of...
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