ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the state of the law in the United States, the single nation with the most developed structure of constitutionally based mental disability law. It discusses the state of the law in Europe, the continent that has the most comprehensively developed international human rights scheme. The chapter looks at the case law from the regional courts and commissions in other areas of the world that have such bodies in an effort to determine the extent to which judicial tribunals take seriously the claims of persons with disabilities in individual cases. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found that the State violated Congo's right to humane treatment under Article 5 of the American Convention on Human Rights. The Lunatic Detention Act was not in conformity with the African Charter by its classification of persons with mental disabilities as "lunatics" and "idiots.".
