MENTAL HOSPITALS ORDINANCE

MENTAL HOSPITALS ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 136.

MENTAL HOSPITALS.

To consolidate and amend the law relating to the

establishment of mental hospitals for the detention, custody and
care of persons of unsound mind, and others.

[15th May, 1936.]

1. T1iis Ordinance may be cited as the Mental Hospitals
Ordinance.

2. In this Ordinance, 'mental hospital' means any institution or
place which the Governor may by notification in the Gazette declare to
be a mental hospital for the detention, custody and care of persons of
unsound mind, and includes the Government Mental Hospital.

3. For the purposes of this Ordinance, every person shall be
deemed to be of unsound mind who is so far deranged in mind as to
render it either necessary or expedient that such person, either for his
own sake or in the public interests, should be placed aiid kept tinder
control.

4. The Governor in Council may by regulations prescribe or
provide for

(a)admission of patients to mental hospitals in cases not
otherwise provided for in this Ordinance;

(b)detention and examination of patients in mental hospitals aiid
matters appertaining thereto;

(c) forms;

(d)any matter which he may consider desirable for the purpose
of carrying cut the objects of this Ordinance.

5. The Governor may declare that certain institutions or places
shall be mental hospitals for the detention, custody and care of
persons of unsound mind, aiid the Governor in Council may make
regulations for the management and conduct of mental hospitals.

6. The Governor may appoint fit and proper persons to be visitors
of any such mental hospitals. Such visitors





shall be at liberty to enter any such mental hospital at all times and
make such inquiry or examination therein as may be deemed necessary
and shall make such reports to the Colonial Secretary as inav be
required by order of the Governor.

7. (1) Upon the application, in the prescribed form, of any person
who lias reason to believe that some other person is of unsound mind,
it shall be lawful for any magistrate or justice of the peace to make an
order, in the prescribed form, authorizing the removal to a mental
hospital, for the purpose of detention and observation during a period
not exceeding seven days from and including the date of the order, of
the person alleged to be of unsound mind.

(2) Every such order shall have the effect of authorizing the
applicant, and every public officer, with such assistance in eacli case
as may be desirable, to use such force as may be necessary in order to
remove to the mental hospital the person alleged to be of unsound
mind.

(3) Except in case of necessity, no such order shall be made until
an attempt has been made by the applicant to communicate with some
relative of the person in question if any such relative can be found in
the Colony.

8. It shall be lawful for any medical practitioner in char ge of any
mental hospital to detain tinder observation for seven clays froni and
including the date of the order any person taken to Such mental
hospital under the provisions of section 7 or 12 and subject to the
provisions of the next following section to detain for the periods
therein stated a person who has voluntarily submitted himself under
that section for care and treatment.

9. (1) Any person not tinder the age of sixteen years who is
desirous of voluntarily submitting to treatment but whose mental
condition may riot be such as to justify the issue of a certificate of
unsoundness of mind, may, on making an application in writing to the
medical practitioner in charge of a mental hospital, in the discretion of
such medical practitioner and on such conditions as he may fit, be
received into such mental hospital for care and treatment.





(2) No such person shall be detained for a period of more than
seventy-two hours after lie has given notice in writing of his intention
to leave the mental hospital except under and in accordance with a
certificate tinder section 11 or an order under section 10.

10. If, before the expiration of the said seven days, two medical
practitioners shall be of opinion that the person detained under
observation is in fact a person of unsound mind, they shall each sign a
certificate in the prescribed form and forward it to a magistrate who
shall countersign it if it shall appear to him that such person is of
unsound mind.

Every such certificate when so countersigned shall
constitute a valid order of such magistrate for the detention
in a mental hospital of the person named therein as being of
unsound mind. Thereupon he may be detained in any
mental hospital until released by order of the Governor or
until discharged uponthe authority of the medical
practitioner in charge of such mental hospital, or until lie is
otherwise released in due course of law: Provided that the
certificate required by this section shall not be countersigned
by such magistrate unless it is established to his satisfaction
that neither of the medical practitioners signing such
certificate is the husband or wife or a near relative, or
a partner, or an assistant, of the person to whom it
refers. [9]

11. If while a person is lawfully under detention in a mental
hospital for the purpose of observation, two medical practitioners
certify in the prescribed forni that it is necessary to detain such person
in the mental hospital for a further period for the purpose of
observation, and if such certificate is Countersigned by a magistrate or
justice of the peace, it shall be lawful to detain such person in the
mental hospital for the purpose of observation for the further period
specified in such certificate : Provided that no such extension shall be
for a longer period than seven days aiid that not more than two Such
extensions shall be lawful : Provided also that if before the end of any
such extension two medical practitioners shall be of opinion that the
person in question is of unsound mind, the procedure laid down





in section 10 shall be followed as if the said medical
practitioners had formed such opinion during the initial
period of detention. [10]

12. (1) If in the opinion of the senior medical officer for the time
being present in, and on the staff of, any hospital, any patient in such
hospital shows symptoms of suffering from delirium. tremens, it shall
be lawful for such medical officer, if he considers it desirable, to make
an order, in the prescribed form, for such patient to be removed to a
mental hospital, for the purpose of detention and observation during a
period of seven days from and including the date of the order.

(2) This section shall only apply where the medical
officer in question is or is deemed to be a registered medical
practitioner. [11]

13. Nothing in this Ordinance shall prevent a medicai
practitioner in charge of a mental hospital from delivering
any person detained therein tinder the provisions of this
Ordinance to the care of any party or parties to whom in his
opinion it is expedient to deliver such person. [12]

14. Every order of a magistrate made under section
10, 11 or 17 shall be subject to an appeal by or on behalf
of the person ordered to be detained thereunder to a judge
sitting in court or in chambers. [13]

15. No action shall be brought against any medical
practitioner or police officer or against any person whom-
Whomsoever for anything done in good faith and with reasonable
cause in pursuance of the powers conferred by this
Ordinance. [14]

16. (1) If under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance,
a person has been found by a jury to be insane, and the Supreme Court
orders him to be detained in safe custody until His Majesty's pleasure
shall be known, the Governor shall by warrant tinder his hand declare
His Majesty's pleasure and may by such warrant direct that such
person be removed to a mental hospital and there detained in
accordance with the terms of the warrant.





(2) If any person who has been imprisoned under any sentence of
imprisonment, or who is otherwise lawfully detained in any' prison or
house of detention, is, in the opinion of the medical officer of the prison
or house Of detention, as the case may be, in which such person is
confined, of unsound mind, the Governor may by warrant under his
hand order such person to be removed to a mental hospital and to be
detained there until the expiration of his sentence or period of detention
or until further or order : Provided that an order under this subsection
relating to aily prisoner on remand or committed for trial or to aily
person admitted to the house of detention as a vagrant shall only be
made in cases of extreme urgency and on medical grounds.

(3) If any person who has been removed to a mental hospital
under the provisions of subsection (2) shall, in the opinion of the
medical practitioner in charge of the mental hospital, become of sound
mind before the expiration of ]lis sentence or period of detention, the
Governor may by warrant under his hand direct such person to be
removed to a prison and to be detained there until the expiration of his
sentence. The period of detention in the mental hospital shall be
reckoned as part of the sentence.

(4) If any person who has been removed to a inental
hospital under the provisions of subsection (2) is certified,
in the prescribed form, by two medical practitioners to be
still of unsound mind at the expiration of his sentence or
period of detention, such person shall be detained in a
mental hospital until released by the Governor or discharged
upon the authority of the medical practitioner in charge of
such mental hospital or until lie be otherwise released in
due course of law. [15]

17. If at the expiration of the sentence of any prisoner detained in
a mental hospital tinder section 16 he is still of unsound mind, such
prisoner may on the written order of a magistrate be detained in such
mental hospital until discharged by order of the Governor or otherwise
released

in due course of law. [16]
22 of 1936. 9 of 1950. Short title. Interpretation. Person of unsound mind. Regulations. Establishment and management of mental hospitals. Visitors of mental hospitals. Removal to mental hospital for observation. Detention for observation. 9 of 1950, Schedule. Voluntary treatment. 9 of 1950, Schedule. [s. 9 cont.] Procedure where person detained found to be of unsound mind before expiration of period of detention for observation. Medical certificate counter-signed by magistrate to be a valid order for detention in a mental hospital. Extension of period detention for observation. Removal to patient in hospital to mental hospital. Delivery of detained persons to others for custody. Appeal Limitation of action. Prisoners of unsound mind. (Cap. 221.) [s. 16 cont.] Detention of prisoners after expiration of sentence.

22 of 1936. 9 of 1950. Short title. Interpretation. Person of unsound mind. Regulations. Establishment and management of mental hospitals. Visitors of mental hospitals. Removal to mental hospital for observation. Detention for observation. 9 of 1950, Schedule. Voluntary treatment. 9 of 1950, Schedule. [s. 9 cont.] Procedure where person detained found to be of unsound mind before expiration of period of detention for observation. Medical certificate counter-signed by magistrate to be a valid order for detention in a mental hospital. Extension of period detention for observation. Removal to patient in hospital to mental hospital. Delivery of detained persons to others for custody. Appeal Limitation of action. Prisoners of unsound mind. (Cap. 221.) [s. 16 cont.] Detention of prisoners after expiration of sentence.

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