This highly successful volume of mental health legislation and case law, regarded as the approved social workers' 'bible' and quoted by Lord Woolf, is now in its 6th edition. Providing full coverage of the new code of practice issued late in 1998, this book acts as a guidance document which will impact upon all mental health practitioners. It discusses the Bourne Wood case, allegedly the most important case in the history of mental health law, and provides a wealth of other new and updated case law. Compact guide to a complex area. Includes the new government code of practice. Written by a former Mental Health Act Commissioner. Annotations provide guidance throughout.