Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “Board” means the Board of Control constituted under this Act; “certified institution” has the meaning assigned to it under the Certified Institutions (Children’s Reformation) Act, Cap. 121; “court” means the Supreme Court; “defective” means, (a) an idiot, that is to say, a person in whose case there exists mental defectiveness of such a degree that he is unable to guard himself against common physical dangers; (b) an imbecile, that is to say, a person in whose case there exists mental defectiveness which, though not amounting to idiocy, is yet so pronounced that he is incapable of managing himself or his affairs or, in the case of a child, of being taught to do so; (c) a feeble-minded person, that is to say, a person in whose case there exists mental 6 defectiveness which, though not amounting to imbecility, is yet so pronounced that he requires care, supervision and control for his own protection or for the protection of others or, in the case of a child, that he appears to be permanently incapable by reason of such defectiveness of receiving proper benefit from the instructions in ordinary schools; (d) a moral defective, that is to say, a person in whose case there exists mental defectiveness coupled with strongly vicious or criminal propensities and who requires care, supervision and control for the protection of others, and includes every person affected by section 19 of this Act; “institution” means an institution for persons of unsound mind or defectiveness approved under this Act; “judicial authority” means a judge, a magistrate, or a justice of the peace specially appointed for the purposes of Part III; “mental defectiveness” means a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind existing before the age of eighteen years, whether arising from inherent causes or induced by disease or injury; “person of unsound mind” means a person inflicted with a total or partial defect of the reason, or the perturbation thereof to such a degree that he is incapable of managing himself or his affairs. 7