Insanity and Mental Deficiency
Insanity and Mental Deficiency
This chapter discusses law covering the mentally disturbed or deficient in the 19th century. The laws affecting those mentally incapacitated became bulky during this period, and much of its flesh had to do with administering the regimes under which they would be kept. Lawyers, medical personnel, managers of institutions, and others, needed instruction on their legal powers and responsibilities, as is evidenced by the considerable growth in legal texts on the subject. Of all the issues, the most basic was institutional restraint, since it involved such a gross infraction of personal freedom. With the obviously deranged, it was not difficult to conclude that any refusal by them to be locked away would have to be overridden; but in less evident cases, the question of involuntary detention could be very difficult.
Keywords: English law, mental health, social policy, mentally disturbed, detention
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