The Idiots Act 1886 (49 Vict.c.25) was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was intended to give "... facilities for the care, education, and training of Idiots and Imbeciles".[1]
The Act made, for the first time, the distinction between "lunatics"[n 1], "idiots", and "imbeciles" for the purpose of making entry into education establishments easier and for defining the ways they were cared for.
Before the Act, learning institutions for idiots and imbeciles were seen as either "licensed houses" or "registered hospitals" for lunatics, for which the parents of children hoping to enter would have to complete a form stating that they were "a lunatic, an idiot, or a person of unsound mind". Additionally, they were required to answer irrelevant questions and present two medical certificates.[2]
The Act was repealed by the Mental Deficiency Act 1913, by which time two further classifications had been introduced: "feeble-minded people" and "moral defectives".[3]
References
- Notes
Mental health law in the United Kingdom |
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| | 18th century | |
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| | 19th century |
- Criminal Lunatics Act 1800
- County Asylums Act 1808
- Marriage of Lunatics Act 1811
- Scottish Madhouses Act 1815
- Criminal Lunatics Amendment Act 1815
- Irish Lunatic Asylums for the Poor Act 1817
- Pauper Lunatics Act 1819
- County Asylums Act 1828
- Madhouses Act 1828
- Chancery Lunatics Property Act 1828
- Madhouses Act 1832
- County Asylums Act 1845
- Lunacy Act 1845
- Idiots Act 1886
- Lunacy (Vacating of Seats) Act 1886
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| | 20th century | |
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| | 21st century | |
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| | Public bodies | |
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| | Other | |
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