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Mental Health Act 1959

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This is the original version (as it was originally enacted).

91Persons absent from Scottish institutions

(1)Where a lunatic, defective, or state mental patient liable to detention under the Lunacy (Scotland) Acts, 1857 to 1913, the Mental Deficiency (Scotland) Acts, 1913 and 1940, the Criminal Lunatics (Scotland) Act, 1935, or the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act, 1949, in an institution to which this section applies is absent from the institution without leave, he may, not later than the expiration of any period within which he might be retaken in Scotland under the said enactments, be retaken in England or Wales by a mental welfare officer, by any constable or by any person for the time being authorised by or by virtue of any such enactment to apprehend him without warrant and may be returned to that institution by any person so authorised.

(2)The institutions to which this section applies are mental hospitals, institutions for mental defectives and State Mental Hospitals within the meaning of the enactments specified in the foregoing subsection, and private asylums licensed thereunder.

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