Clear statutory authority for retaking absconders from mental hospitals has always existed since county asylums, the forerunners of mental hospitals, were first built in the nineteenth century. This article analyses the period within which such absconders may be retaken. It considers both offenders and non-offenders who abscond or go absent without leave and looks critically at the concept of ‘discharge by operation of law', a rule of practice (rather than a statutory rule) now eradicated by s.2(1) of the long overdue Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act 1995.
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