The jurisdiction of the High Court to grant a declaration as to the best interests of a mentally incapacitated adult is not excluded by the statutory regime under the Mental Health Act 1983, and there is an obvious gap in the legal framework for managing welfare related decisions affecting mentally incapacitated adults, which the court is entitled to fill, relying on the common law doctrine of necessity. The perceived wishes of the mentally incapacitated adult could be overridden by the need to protect her from intervention which was not in her best interests; if necessary, protecting her could extend to restraining or detaining her. This approach was not inconsistent with article 8 nor article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights
