Quasi‐government: the case of the Mental Health Act Commission

The Mental Health Act Commission (MHAC) is a “watchdog”body concerned with the rights of detained psychiatric patients in England and Wales. It was created by the UK government as a“quasi‐governmental” body in an ad hoc manner to defuse the controversy engendered by competing lobbying bodies during the passage of reforming legislation. The consequence was that its formal (legal) constitution conflicted with the “informal constitution” of expectations about the structure and operating of the MHAC, leading ultimately to major and bitter internal conflict. The history of the MHAC suggests important lessons about the need for such bodies to have a clear and consistent constitution.