Legislation and Caselaw
Primary Legislation
The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 ("the 2003 Act")
The "Latest available (Revised)" version of the 2003 Act which is published on the UK legislation website incorporates all changes to the 2003 Act to date.
The legislative provisions regarding the making of compulsion and restriction orders are contained in Part 6 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. This is available here https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/46/part/VI
Provisions concerning the rights of victims are contained in Part 2 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. This is available here https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2003/7/part/2
The 2003 Act was amended by the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2015 ("the 2015 Act"). Most of the provisions of the 2015 Act, and new regulations, came into force on 30 June 2017.
Secondary Legislation
The detailed rules for how the Tribunal operates are contained in secondary legislation, namely a series of Scottish Statutory Instruments (‘SSIs’). These have been made by Ministers under various sections of the Act. The most important SSI contains the Rules of Procedure. The Rules as published on the UK legislation website incorporate all changes to date.
The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland (Practice and Procedure) (No. 2) Rules 2005 ("the Rules")
Other SSIs, which relate to the Tribunal and its operation, are listed in this table.
Case law
Case Digest Volume 1, published in 2011, and Case Digest Volume 2, published in 2022, both summarise and comment on appeals and judicial reviews concerning Tribunal decisions where a written judgement has been issued by the court. It is hoped that professionals, patients and carers involved in proceedings before mental health tribunals will find these Case Digests of use and of interest.
Listed below are written judgments of the courts in cases where an appeal or Petition for Judicial Review has been brought against a decision of the Tribunal.
Also listed is the Opinion of Lord Maclean in the case of R v Lothian Health Board, 27 November 1992 (and reported in 1993 SLT 1021) decided under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984, and concerning successive short term detention certificates.
Click on a case name to access the full text of the relevant court judgement.
- R v Lothian Health Board, 27 November 1992 (and reported in 1993 SLT 1021)
- Byrne v MHTS [2007] MHLR 2; 2006 GWD 10-17
- Beattie v Dunbar and MHTS 2006 SCLR 777; [2007] MHLR 7; 2006 GWD 10-180
- McGlynn v MHTS [2007] MHLR 16; 2006 GWD 13-248
- Smith v MHTS 2006 SLT 347; [2007] MHLR 17; 2006 GWD 10-178
- Paterson v Kent 2007 SLT (Sh Ct) 8; [2007] MHLR 20; 2006 GWD 24-541
- Hughes (Curator ad litem to PH) v MHTS [2007] MHLR 29
- Lothian Health Board v M 2007 SCLR 478; 2007 GWD 17‑309
- Robbins v Mitchell [2007] Scot SC 19 (unreported)
- Scottish Ministers v MHTS (re SW) [2007] CSIH 57 (unreported)
- Laurie (Named Person for AL) v MHTS 2007 GWD 32‑555
- D v MHTS 6 May 2008 (unreported)
- T v MHTS 28 July 2008 (unreported)
- Di Mascio v MHTS 2008 GWD 37-559
- B v MHTS 2008 GWD 36-543
- Scottish Ministers v MHTS (JK) 2009 SC 398; 2009 SLT 273; 2009 SCLR 224; 2009 GWD 7-126
- M v Murray 2009 GWD 14-227
- Scottish Ministers v MHTS (NG and PF) 2009 SC 510; 2009 SLT 650; 2009 GWD 18-298
- Scottish Ministers v MHTS and MM 2010 SC 56; 2009 SLT 1093; 2009 SCLR 800; [2009] MHLR 372;
2009 GWD 29-47 - KM v MHTS [2009] MHLR 384; 2009 GWD 40-694
- Henderson v MHTS 2011 SCLR 129; 2010 GWD 26-507
- WS v MHTS 2011 SC 43; 2010 SLT 991; 2010 GWD 29‑607
- M v MHTS 2010 SLT (Sh Ct) 235; 2010 GWD 31-652
- JG v MHTS 2010 GWD 40-817
- Black v MHTS 21 February 2011 (unreported)
- MP v JL, Dr TH and MHTS 7 April 2011 (unreported)
- N v Borland and MHTS 2011 SLT (Sh Ct) 135; 2011 SCLR 436; 2011 GWD 16-398
- JG v MHTS 2011 GWD 22-502
- LA v MHTS 2011 GWD 26‑594
- G v MHTS 2012 SC 138; 2011 GWD 29‑638; 2011 SCLR 770
- AB v MHTS 2012 GWD 1-9
- DC Petition for Judicial Review 2012 SLT 521; 2011 GWD 39-805
- Black v MHTS & Scottish Ministers 2012 SC 251; 2012 GWD 2-31
- JB v MHTS 2012 SLT (Sh Ct) 71; 2012 GWD 7-130
- Scottish Ministers v MHTS & JMM 2012 SC 471; 2012 SLT 560; 2012 GWD 9-176
- AB v BR, Dr DM & MHTS 2012 GWD 34-702
- Glasgow Health Board v MHTS, 27 February 2013 (unreported)
- XY (Party Litigant) v MHTS, 28 June 2013 (unreported)
- G v Scottish Ministers and MHTS [2013] UKSC 79, 2014 SLT 247
- BD v MHTS, 2014 SLT (Sh Ct) 39; 2014 GWD 13-246 (reported as D v MHTS)
- BG v MHTS and Mark McIlwraith (MHO), 1 August 2014 (unreported)
- K v MHTS 2015 SLT (Sh Ct) 197; 2015 GWD 9-171
- BG v MHTS and Mark McIlwraith (MHO) 2015 GWD 9-170
- DW v MHTS, 24 June 2015 (unreported)
- R v MHTS, 31 August 2017 (unreported)
- JF v MHTS, 4 April 2018 (unreported)
- JH v MHTS, 24 April 2018 (unreported)
- MB v Tommy Gilmour, MHO, and MHTS, 5 July 2018 (unreported)
- MH v MHTS 2019 SC 432; 2019 SLT 411; 2020 SCLR 240; 2019 GWD 12-162
- MH v MHTS 2019 SC 527; 2019 SLT 615; 2019 SCLR 930; 2019 GWD 15-226
- CS v MHTS(unreported) (04 June 2020)
- X_v_MHTS (unreported)(02 December 2020)
- RE_v_MHTS (unreported) (27 July 2021)
- SL v MHTS (unreported)(08 September 2021)
- S v MHTS (15 September 2023) (unreported)
- SN v MHTS (unreported)(04 October 2023)
MHTS Decisions
Below is a table containing decisions which have been made by The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland. Using the heading in each column you can filter decisions in several ways to make it easier to find what you may be looking for. You can filter by 'Application Section', 'Decision Section' or 'Description'. The table is updated regularly with new decisions.
MHTS Table of Decisions