Idiot - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition idiot

Definition :

Idiot. An idiot is a person born without a mind. For Coke's classification of persons of unsound mind, see Co. Litt. 247 a.

Idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, and moral defectives constitute the four kinds of persons define as 'mentally defective' by the (English) Mental Deficiency Act, 1927 (17 & 18 Geo. 5, c. 33), s. 1, idiots being defined (s. 1 (a) as 'persons in whose case there exists mental defectiveness of such a degree that they are unable to guard themselves against common physical dangers.' The (English) M.D. Act, 1913, as amended by the Act of 1927, provides (s. 2) for defectives being dealt with either by being sent to an institution or placed under guardianship. The general superintendence of matters relating to their supervision, training or occupation, protection, and control is vested in a central body styled 'the Board of Control' (ss. 21 et seq.), and County Councils and Borough Councils are constituted committees for the purposes of the Act (ss. 27 et seq.). The (English) Idiots Act, 1886, is repealed (s. 67), and full provision is made for the care and protection in every way of the persons to whom the Act applies and for the management and administration of their property. The Act does not extend to Scotland or Ireland (s. 72), but provision is made for the former by the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5, c. 38). Consult Archbold's Lunacy and Mental Deficiency; Mills and Poyser's Lunacy Practice.

Idiot, means a person afflicted with profound mental retardation. The term has largely fallen out of use in modern legal and medical contexts, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 749