April 14, 1937. The Legislative Assembly passes "An Act respecting the Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates". The purpose of this legislation is to outline when the state (i.e., the Alberta government) can take possession of the estate of persons deemed "mentally incompetent".

The legislation outlines a process whereby if an individual is taken before an Albertan court and declared "unsound in mind", then the court can appoint a committee, of one or more members, to take possession of that individual's estate (their property or assessts) (An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates, Sec.3-Sec. 6).

However, before the committee could take possession of an individual's estate, the court had to establish that the individual in question was of unsound mind "beyond a reasonable doubt" (An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates, Sec. 8), the definition of which was that a person was deemed a "lunatic" or "mental defective" (see An Act amending the Sexual Sterilization Act) and "incapable of managing himself or his affairs" (An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates, Sec. 2 & 8.4). Moreover, the individual must have received at least ten days warning notifying him or her that a trial to assess his or her soundness of mind would take place (An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates, Sec. 9.1). During the assessment the individual could be ordered by the court to submit to a medical examination to assess their soundness of mind (An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates, Sec. 10).

Once an individual was declared "mentally incompetent", the court appointed committee could take possession of all of the individual's assessts. The legislation outlines that the court was supposed to manage an individual's estate "for his maintenance or benefit...where it appears to be expedient" (An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates, Sec.14). Thus the court had the ability to use the individuals estate to whatever end it saw fit. So, for example, if an individual ran a trade or business, the committee could continue to run it in whatever way it deemed best; if the committee wanted to invest money in securities, it could (An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates, Sec. 16-17).

In addition to those identified in Section 2, people declared mentally incompetent because of "mentally infirmity" could also have their estates appropriated or taken. Every person deemed mentally diseased, including from drug addiction, age, habitual drunkenness, or a mental defective, and those living in an institution for the mentally incompetent, were possible candidates for having their estate appropriated under this legislation (An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates, Sec. 23, 25).

The relevance of this legislation to the history of eugenics, specifically in Alberta, is that it marks a growing intrusion of the state into the lives of those deemed "mentally incompetent or unfit". Whereas the Sexual Sterilization Act of 1928 dealt with bodily intervention, this legislation deals with economic intervention. Under this legislation the "mentally incompetent" are no longer capable of managing their economic affairs, just as they incapable of managing their reproductive affairs.

Also notable is that this legislation does not require medical examination before a declaration of "unsoundness of mind"; medical assessment is optional (see Section 10). That a legal body rather than a medical one can make pronouncements on mental "fitness" suggests a bald disregard for treatment or care altogether in this legislation.

-Luke Kersten

• Province of Alberta. (1937). An Act respecting Mentally Incompetent Persons and their Estates. Statutes of the Province of Alberta.