PART IV
GENERAL
Offences, Legal Proceedings etc
51 Offences with respect to the reception and detention of defectives
(1) It shall not be lawful for a person without the consent of the Board to undertake the care and control of more than one person who is a defective, or who is placed under his care as being a defective elsewhere than in an institution, a certified house, or an approved home, and, if any person contravenes this provision, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
(2) Where a person undertakes the care and control of any person who is a defective or is placed under his care as being a defective elsewhere than in an institution, a certified house, or an approved home, he shall, within forty-eight hours after the reception of such person, give notice thereof in the prescribed form to the local authority and to the Board, and, if he fails to do so, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.
(3) If any manager of any institution for defectives, or the owner of a certified house, or the guardian of a defective, detains a patient or exercises any of the powers conferred upon him by this Act after he has knowledge that those powers have expired, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
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(4) Nothing in this section shall apply to or affect any person who under the Lunacy Acts 1890 to 1911, or the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act 1899, as amended by any subsequent enactment, receives or detains any person in accordance with those Acts, notwithstanding that the person so received and detained is a defective within the meaning of this Act.
52 Offence of supplying intoxicants contrary to warning
If any person, having been warned by a person appointed to be guardian of a defective under this Act, or by a person under whose charge a patient absent from an institution or from a certified house has been placed, not to supply intoxicants to or for the use of the person under his guardianship or charge, knowingly supplies any intoxicants to or for the use of that person, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act:
Provided that a person shall not be guilty of the offence of supplying intoxicants in contravention of the warning if the person giving the warning refuses, when required so to do, to produce the authority under which he acts.
53 Offences in relation to institutions etc
If any person secretes a patient in any institution or certified house or approved home or induces or knowingly assists a patient in an institution or a certified house, or a person allowed out from such an institution or house either on licence or without a licence, or a person in a place of safety or under guardianship under this Act, to escape or to break any conditions of his guardianship or licence, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.
54 Obstruction
(1) Any person who obstructs any Commissioner or inspector or visitor or any officer or other person appointed or employed by a local authority in the exercise of the powers conferred by or under this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
(2) Any person who wilfully obstructs any other person authorised under this Act by an order in writing under the hand of the Secretary of State to visit and examine any person alleged to be a defective, or to inspect or inquire into the state of any institution, certified house, approved home, prison, or place wherein any person represented to be a defective is confined or alleged to be confined, in the execution of such order, and any person who wilfully obstructs any person authorised under this Act by any order of the Board to make any visit and examination or inquiry in the execution of such order, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.
55 Ill-treatment
If any manager, officer, nurse, attendant, servant, or other person employed in an institution or certified house, or approved home, or any person having charge of a defective, whether by reason of any contract, or of any tie of relationship, or marriage, or otherwise, illtreats or wilfully neglects the defective, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
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56 Protection of defectives from acts of sexual immorality, procuration etc
(1) Any person -
(a) who unlawfully and carnally knows, or attempts to have unlawful carnal knowledge of, any woman or girl under care or treatment in an institution or certified house or approved home, or whilst placed out on licence therefrom or under guardianship under this Act; or
(b) who procures, or attempts to procure, any woman or girl who is a defective to have unlawful carnal connection, whether within or without the King's dominions, with any person or persons; or
(c) who causes or encourages the prostitution, whether within or without the King's dominions, of any woman or girl who is a defective; or
(d) who, being the owner or occupier of any premises, or having or acting or assisting in the management or control thereof, induces or knowingly suffers any woman or girl who is a defective to resort to or be in or upon such premises for the purpose of being unlawfully and carnally known by any man, whether such carnal knowledge is intended to be with any particular man or generally; or
(e) who, with intent that any woman or girl who is a defective should be unlawfully and carnally known by any man, whether such carnal knowledge is intended to be with any particular man or generally, takes or causes to be taken such woman or girl out of the possession and against the will of her parent or any other person having the lawful care or charge of her;
shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years unless he proves that he did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that the woman or girl was a defective.
(2) Section ten of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 69), shall apply in the case of a woman or girl who is a defective in the same manner as it applies in the case of a girl who is under the age of sixteen years.
(3) Without prejudice and in addition to the provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c. 45), no consent shall be any defence in any proceedings for an indecent assault upon any defective, if the accused knew or had reason to suspect that the person in respect of whom the offence was committed was a defective.
(4) No indictment under this section shall be tried at quarter sessions.
(5) If on the trial of an indictment for rape the jury are satisfied that the accused is guilty of an offence under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section, but are not satisfied that he is guilty of rape, the jury may acquit him of rape and
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find him guilty of such offence as aforesaid, and in that event he shall be liable to be punished as if he had been convicted on an indictment for such offence as aforesaid.
(6) Section four of the Criminal Evidence Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 36), shall have effect as if this section of this Act were included in the Schedule to that Act.
57 False entries
Any person who in any book, statement, or return knowingly makes any false entry as to any matter as to which he is by this Act or any rules made under this Act required to make an entry shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
58 Punishment of person making untrue statement for purpose of obtaining certificate of approval
If any person, for the purpose of obtaining any certificate or approval under this Act or the renewal of any such certificate or approval, wilfully supplies to the Board any untrue or incorrect information, plan, description, or notice he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
59 Penalty for breach of regulations
If any person is guilty of a breach of any regulation made under this Act, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding such as may be prescribed as respects such a breach by the regulations, but the maximum penalty imposed by the regulations in respect of any breach shall not exceed imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term of three months or a fine of fifty pounds, or both.
60 Punishment for offences
(1) An offence under this Act declared to be a misdemeanour shall be punishable by fine or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, but may, except where otherwise expressly provided, instead of being prosecuted on indictment, be prosecuted summarily, and, if so prosecuted, shall be punishable only with imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour, or with a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or both.
(2) Any other offence under this Act shall be punishable summarily with imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months with or without hard labour, or with a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or both.
61 Appeals
Any person aggrieved by the conviction or sentence or a court of summary jurisdiction under this Act may appeal to quarter sessions.
62 Protection of officers for the purposes of arrest
The managers of an institution and the owner of a certified house and every officer of such institution or house authorised in writing by the managers or owner, for the purpose of conveying a person to or from the institution, or house, or of apprehending and bringing him back to the institution or house in case of his escape or refusal to return, shall, for that purpose and while engaged in that duty, have all the powers, protections, and privileges of a constable.
63 Application of sections 330 and 332 of Lunacy Act 1890
Section three hundred and thirty of the Lunacy Act 1890, which relates to the protection of persons putting that Act in force, and section three hundred and thirty-two of the
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same Act, which relates to the powers of Commissioners and visitors to summons witnesses, shall have effect as if they were herein enacted and in terms made applicable to this Act.
Supplemental
64 Administration of property
The provisions of section fifty and Part IV of the Lunacy Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 5), as amended by any subsequent enactment, shall apply with respect to the management and administration of the estate of a person sent to or placed in an institution or to or in a certified house or placed under guardianship in accordance with the provisions or this Act, in like manner as they apply to the management and administration of the estate of a person lawfully detained as a lunatic but not so found by inquisition, and shall apply to the management and administration of the estate of a person with regard to whom it is proved to the satisfaction or the judge in lunacy that he is a defective within the meaning of this Act in like manner as they apply to the management and administration of the estate of a person who is through mental infirmity arising from disease or age incapable of managing his affairs.
65 Transfer to Board of powers and duties of Lunacy Commissioners
(1) All the powers and duties of the Commissioners in Lunacy under the Lunacy Acts 1890 to 1911, shall, as from the commencement of this Act, be transferred to the Board, and His Majesty may, by Order in Council, direct that anything which under those Acts is required or authorised to be done by, to, or in respect of, any one or more Commissioners in Lunacy or any officer of those Commissioners shall, be done by, to, or in respect of, one or more Commissioners under this Act, or the corresponding officer of the Board:
Provided that nothing in such Order in Council shall authorise anything by those Acts required to be done by two Commissioners, one a medical practitioner and the other a barrister, to be done otherwise than by two commissioners, one a medical and the other a legal commissioner, but the order may provide that, in the case of the temporary illness or disability of a legal or medical commissioner, the Lord Chancellor or the Secretary of State (as the case may be) may appoint a person qualified to be a legal or medical commissioner to act as substitute so long as the illness or disability continues.
(2) As from the commencement of this Act, the existing staff of the Commissioners in Lunacy shall be transferred to and become members of the staff of the Board, but without prejudice to the rights of any existing members of such staff.
(3) As from the commencement of this Act, sections one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty-one of the Lunacy Act 1890, shall be repealed.
66 Power to authorise committee for care of mentally defective to act as asylums committee
The Secretary of State may by order authorise the council of a county or county borough acting as a local authority under the Lunacy Acts 1890 to 1911, to appoint the committee for the care of the mentally defective constituted
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under this Act to be the visiting committee or asylums committee for the purposes of those Acts, anything in those Acts to the contrary notwithstanding.
67 Repeal of Idiots Act 1886
(1) The Idiots Act 1886, is hereby repealed.
(2) Any hospital, institution, or licensed house which at the commencement of this Act is registered under the Idiots Act 1886, shall, without further certification, become a certified institution under this Act:
Provided that -
(a) if any such hospital, institution, or licensed house is carried on for private profit, the hospital, institution, or house shall become a certified house instead of a certified institution; and
(b) if the committee of management of any such hospital, institution, or licensed house make an application to the Board for the purpose, and the Board makes an order, the whole or any part of the hospital, institution, or house to which the order relates shall become and be treated as an approved home.
(3) Any person who before the commencement of this Act has been placed in a hospital, institution, or licensed house registered under the Idiots Act 1886, may, after the commencement of this Act, continue to be detained therein in like manner in all respects as if he had been placed therein in pursuance of the provisions of this Act and immediately after the commencement thereof.
(4) Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of any person who is or has been an officer or servant of a hospital, institution, or licensed house registered under the Idiots Act 1886, to receive or to continue to receive any superannuation allowance to which he would have been entitled had this Act not been passed.
68 Provisions as to regulations
Regulations made under this Act shall be laid before Parliament as soon as may be after they are made, and, if within thirty sitting days after they have been so laid either House of Parliament presents an address to His Majesty praying that any such regulations may be annulled, His Majesty may, by Order in Council annul the regulations, without prejudice, however, to anything done thereunder, and the regulations made under this Act shall have effect as if enacted in this Act.
69 Liability to removal
The time during which a defective is detained in an institution or resides in an approved home under this Act shall for all purposes be excluded in the computation of time mentioned in section one of the Poor Removal Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. 66), as amended by any subsequent enactment.
70 Provisions against disfranchisement
The maintenance in an institution or under guardianship under this Act of any person for whose maintenance any other person is responsible shall not deprive that other person
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of any franchise, right, or privilege, or subject him to any disability.
71 Interpretation
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -
The expression "prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under this Act:
The expression "parent or guardian" in relation to a defective shall include any person who undertakes or performs towards the defective the duty of a parent or guardian:
The expression "relative" means the husband or wife or a lineal ancestor or lineal descendant, or lineal descendant of an ancestor not more remote than great-grandfather or great-grandmother:
The expression "intoxicants" includes any intoxicating liquor, and any sedative, narcotic, or stimulant drug or preparation:
The expression "place of safety" means any workhouse or police station, any institution, any place of detention, and any hospital, surgery, or other suitable place, the occupier of which is willing to receive temporarily persons who may be taken to places of safety under this Act:
The expression "special school or class" means a special school or class within the meaning of the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act 1899:
The expressions "institution" and "institution for defectives" mean a state institution or certified institution:
The expression "State institution" means an institution for defectives of dangerous or violent propensities established by the Board under this Act:
The expression "certified institution" means an institution in respect of which a certificate has been granted under this Act to the managers to receive defectives therein, and includes, subject to the provisions of this Act, any premises provided by a board of guardians and approved under this Act:
The expression "certified house" means a house in which defectives are received by the owner thereof for his private profit, and in respect of which a certificate has been granted under this Act:
The expression "approved home" means any premises in which defectives are received and supported wholly or partly by voluntary contributions, or by applying the excess of payment of some patients for or towards the support of other patients, or a house in which defectives are received by the owner thereof for his private profit, and which has been approved by the Board under this Act:
The expression "institution for lunatics" has the same meaning as in the Lunacy Acts 1890 to 1911:
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The expression "board of guardians of a poor law union" shall include the Metropolitan Asylums Board and any joint committee of a combination of unions constituted by order of the Local Government Board.
(2) Cost on income account shall, as respects an institution provided by a local authority, include expenditure out of income by the authority by way of interest on or repayment of capital raised, or by way of rent or other similar payment, for the purposes of the provision of the institution.
(3) For the purposes of this Act, the Scilly Islands shall be deemed to be a county, and the council of those islands the council of a county, and any expenses incurred by that council under the provisions of this Act shall be treated as general expenses of the council.
72 Short title, extent, and commencement
(1) This Act may be cited as the Mental Deficiency Act 1913.
(2) This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland.
(3) This Act shall come into operation on the first day of April nineteen hundred and fourteen, except that as respects the constitution of the Board of Control, and the appointment of the secretary, officers, and servants of the Board, it shall come into operation on the first day of November nineteen hundred and thirteen.
SCHEDULE
Section 22
POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE
1. The supervision of the administration by local authorities of their power and duties under this Act;
2. The certification and approval of premises.
3. The provision and maintenance of State institutions.
4. The administration of grants made out of moneys provided by Parliament under this Act.
5. Such other powers and duties of the Board under this Act of an administrative nature as the Secretary of State or the Board may assign to the administrative committee.