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Mental Deficiency - Law Dictionary Search Results

Home Dictionary Name: mental deficiency

mental deficiency

mental deficiency : failure in intellectual development that is marked by low intelligence or mental retardation and that may result in an inability to function competently in society ...


Mental Deficiency Act

Mental Deficiency Act. See IDIOT....


Person of unsound mind

Person of unsound mind, a term by which in a more enlightened age persons afflicted with a mental illness affecting their reason are to be known, as distinguished from Idiots, Imbeciles, Feeble-minded Persons and Moral Defectives under the Mental Deficiency Act, 1927 (17 & 18Geo. 5, c. 33) (see those titles, and LUNATICS).The statute law affecting persons of unsound mind in contained in the (English) Lunacy and Mental Treatment Acts, 1890 to 1930, of which the principal are the (English) Lunacy Acts, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 5), 1891 (54 & 55 Vict., c. 56), and as regards Boards of Control, the Mental Deficiency Acts, 1913 to 1927 and the Mental Treatment Rules, 1930 (S.R. & O., 1930 No. 1083). A classification of patients has been made as follows: (a) Voluntary (see the (English) Act of 1930, s. 1; (b) Temporary (ibid., s. 5 (1); (c) Certified [(English) Lunacy Act, 1890, s. 4]; (d) Found to be of unsound mind upon inquisition (see that title), and a further classification is into a pri...


Idiot

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.). T...


Reception order

Reception order. No person, not being a a rate-aided poor person or a person of unsound mind so found by inquisition, can be received or detained as a per-son of unsound mind except under the authority of (1) a reception order, or (2) an urgency order (q.v.), or (3) a summary reception order (q.v.) [(English) Lunacy Act, 1890, ss. 1, 9, 13]. Ss. 21 and 22 provide exceptions in the case of emergency, etc., and of friends and relatives taking charge. A reception order can only be made by a judicial authority, i.e., a justice of the peace specially appointed, a county court judge, a stipendiary magistrate, or by two commissioners in lunacy (ibid., ss. 1, 9, 10 and 23). It is only effective for one year unless extended [(English) Lunacy Act, 1891, s. 7), and by s. 36 (3) of the Act, 1890, it ceases to be of any force unless the patient has been received thereunder before the expiration of seven days from its date. As to the reception of feebleminded and mentally defective persons, see the ...


Board of Control

Board of Control. The (English) Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23), established five Commissioners, including the Chairman, all of whom are paid. The Commissioners are styled senior Commissioners-including the Chairman-one at least shall be a practising barrister or solicitor of five years' standing, two shall be medical commissioners, and one, at least, a woman. The Commissioners have the powers specified in the 2nd and 3rd Schedules to the Mental Treatment Act, 1930, under s. 14 of that Act, together with other powers mentioned in that section, and also the powers and duties of the Lunacy Commissioners which were transferred to the (English) Board by the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5, c. 28), s. 25....


Lunatic

Lunatic. By the (English) Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23), s. 20, the word 'lunatic,' except in the phrase 'criminal lunatic' and in relation to persons detained as lunatics outside England, shall cease to be used in relation to any person of or alleged to be of unsound mind, and the words ''person of unsound mind,' 'person,' 'patient of unsound mind,' or 'of unsound mind,' or such other expression as the context may require are to be substituted in any enactment or document thereunder. See PERSON OF UNSOUND MIND. Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23).The general principle governing contracts entered into by insane persons is laid down in The Imperial Loan Co. v. Stone, (1892) 1 QB 559. 'Where a person enters into a contract, and afterwards alleges that he was so insane at the time that he did not know what he was doing and proves the allegation, the contract is as binding on him in every respect, whether it is executory or executed, as if he had been sa...


rape

rape raped rap·ing [Latin rapere to seize and take away by force] : to commit rape on rap·er n rap·ist n n : unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception see also statutory rape NOTE: The common-law crime of rape involved a man having carnal knowledge of a woman not his wife through force and against her will, and required at least slight penetration of the penis into the vagina. While some states maintain essentially this definition of rape, most have broadened its scope esp. in terms of the sex of the persons and the nature of the acts involved. Marital status is usually irrelevant. Moreover, the crime is codified under various names, including first degree sexual assault sexual battery unlawful sexual i...


County Councils

County Councils. The elective bodies established by the Local Government Act, 1888 (c. 41), to manage certain specified administrative business of each county (see LOCAL GOVERNMENT), formerly managed by the justices of the peace (who are nominated by the Crown) in quarter sessions,and other administrative business mentioned in the Act, and consisting of 'the chairman, aldermen, and councillors.' The (English) Local Government Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 51), consolidates with amendments the enactments relating to local authorities.The councillors are elected, for separate electroal divisions,' the qualification for elctors being that required under the Representation of the People Acts, and the qualification for being elected similar to that required for electionto office onany local authority. Ministers of religion are not disqulaified, and peers owing property in the county and persons registered as parliamentary voters in respect of the ownership of property in the county are qual...


Feeble-minded persons

Feeble-minded persons are one of the four classes of 'defectives' for dealing with whom elaborate provision is made by the (English) Mental Treatment Act, 1927 (18 & 18 Geo. 5, c. 33), s. 1; see IDIOT. As to Scotland, see the (English) Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5, c. 38)....


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