The Mental Health Act 1983 (c.20) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It covers the reception, care and treatment of mentally disordered people, the management of their property and other related matters, forming part of the mental health law for the people in England and Wales. In particular, it provides the legislation by which people diagnosed with a mental disorder can be detained in a hospital or police custody and have their disorder assessed or treated against their wishes, informally known as "sectioning". Its use is reviewed and regulated by the Care Quality Commission. The Act was significantly amended by the Mental Health Act 2007. A white paper proposing changes to the act was published in 2021 following an independent review of the act by Simon Wessely. History The Madhouses Act 1774 created a Commission of the Royal College of Physicians with powers to grant licences to premises housing "lunatics" in London; justices of the peace were given these powers elsewhere in England and Wales. Failure to gain a licence resulted in a hefty fine. Admission to a "madhouse" required certification signed by a doctor, and lists of detained residents became available for public inspection. This Act was later considered ineffectual and was repealed by the Madhouses Act 1828, itself repealed shortly afterwards by the Madhouses Act 1832. These Acts altered the composition of the Commission in several ways, such as including barristers in addition to doctors. The Lunacy Act 1845 and the County Asylums Act 1845 together gave mental hospitals or "asylums" the authority to detain "lunatics, idiots and persons of unsound mind". Each county was compelled to provide an asylum for "pauper lunatics", who were removed from workhouses into the aforementioned asylums. The Lunacy Commission was established to monitor asylums, their admissions, treatments and discharges. Both these acts were repealed by the Lunacy Act 1890. This introduced "reception orders", authorising detention in asylums. These orders had to be made by a specialised Justice of the Peace and lasted one year. Thereafter, detention could be renewed at regular intervals by submission of a medical report to the Lunacy Commission. The Mental Deficiency Act 1913 renamed the Lunacy Commission the "Board of Control" and increased the scope of its powers. The functions of the Board of Control were subsequently altered by the Mental Treatment Act 1930 and the National Health Service Act 1946. The Lunacy Act