Law relating to mental disorder and to the mentally disordered has rarely been the subject of such extensive and heated debate. This book explores and reflects upon that debate. To date the focus has been on the tension between public protection and individual civil rights,since much of its impetus has derived from 'notorious' homicides in the community and been directed towards calls for a 'community treatment order'. The debate encapsulated here is more comprehensive, going to the heart of the nature of mental illness and its impacts on legal capacity, juxtaposing constructs which arise out of profoundly differing disciplines. The book concludes that the contribution of current mental health legislation is both marginal and marginalised and it seeks to set an agenda for radical law reform by recognising that asking questions may, at this stage, be more valuable than providing hasty answers. Many of the chapters deal with the recent Bournewood decision in the House of Lords.

1. Law Without Enforcement: Theory and PracticeNigel Eastman and Jill Peay2. Mental Health Law: Objectives and PrinciplesWilliam Bingley and Chris Heginbotham3. Mental and Physical Illness: An Unsustainable Separation?Eric Matthews4. Public Policy via Law: Practitioner's Sword and Politician's ShieldChris Heginbotham and Tony Elson5. Client and Clinician: Law as an IntrusionFiona Caldicott, Edna Conlan and Anthony Zigmond6. Law as a Clinical Tool: Practising Within and Outwith the LawIan Bynoe and Tony Holland7. Law as a Rights Protector: Assessing the Mental Health Act 1983Genevra Richardson and Oliver Thorold8. The Citizen Mental PatientPeter Barham and Marian Barnes9. Auditing the Effectiveness of Mental Health LawNick Bosanquet10. Madness and Moral PanicsGeoffrey Pearson11. Decision Making and Mental Health LawAnnie Bartlett and Lawrence Phillips12. Researching LawBram Oppenheim13. Afterword: Integrating Mental Health and JusticeNigel Eastman and Jill Peay