The Mental Health (Scotland) Act, 1960
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836202600410 |
| Published date | 01 October 1962 |
| Date | 01 October 1962 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Mental Health (Scotland)
Act
1960
THE most important recent event in the sphere of Scots
criminal law was
the
coming into force on
rst
June
1962 of
the
Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960. Like
the
English Mental Health Act 1959 (see 24 J.C.L. 307) which it
resembles, it provides acomprehensive code for dealing with
mentally
ill
persons,
but
we shall here consider only the
principal provisions of Part V of the Act, which deals with
patients concerned in criminal proceedings.
The
Act replaces
the
concept of insanity by
that
of
"mental disorder" except in dealing with persons who are
unfit to plead or acquitted on account of insanity.
The
pro-
visions for
the
detention of mentally disordered persons are
similar to those of sections 23 and 24 of the Criminal Justice
(Scotland) Act 1949, which are repealed by the 1960 Act.
The
1949 Act enabled the Sheriff Summary Court to order persons
of unsound or defective mind who were found to have com-
mitted offences to be detained in an ordinary mental hospital,
or, if they were dangerous, in a State mental hospital.
Under
section 55 of the 1960 Act a person convicted in either the
High Court or the Sheriff Court of an offence other than one
with a fixed penalty (i.e. other than treason, murder, or a
contravention of the Criminal Law (Scotland) Act 1829 which
deals with certain forms of assault and is rarely invoked) may
be made the subject of a hospital or guardianship order if
the
Court is satisfied on the evidence of two doctors, one of whom
must be approved for the purposes of the Act by a Regional
Hospital Board, that he is mentally disordered, provided, in the
case of a hospital order, that a vacancy is available for his
admission to hospital within 28 days of the order. Aperson
who is made the subject of such an order is thereafter dealt
with for most purposes in the same way as if he had been
307
To continue reading
Request your trial