Mental Health

The test set out in Shah v Barnet London Borough Council [1983] 1 All ER 226 was not a helpful guide to the meaning of “is resident” in s 117(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA 1983). That was because the circumstances to which the test of ordinary residence was to be applied under the Education Act 1962 were very different from those in which s 117(3) of MHA 1983 had to be considered. Mohamed v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council [2002] 1 All ER 176 was more helpful and relevant. It was clear that, for the purposes of s 117 of MHA 1983, a person could not have more than one residence, whereas for other legislative purposes the person in question could be resident in two different places at the same time. In general, when considering any case in which there was doubt as to the place of a person’s residence,