| Summary: | This PhD thesis has two core objectives: 1) To critically analyse and compare the legal provisions relating to capacity assessment in England and Wales, Scotland and India; (2) To critically analyse and compare the legal provisions relating to decision-making on behalf of the incapable patient in England and Wales, Scotland and India. The methodology utilised to achieve these objectives is essentially a classic literature based comparative approach. This thesis provides an original contribution to knowledge by virtue of the fact that an in-depth tripartite comparative study of capacity law provisions in England and Wales, Scotland and India has yet to be undertaken within existing literature. The research undertaken in this thesis is timely given the implementation of capacity legislation in England and Wales and the relevant provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 of England and Wales and the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 are compared and critiqued as part of a discussion of the key ethical, legal and procedural concepts which underpin the law of capacity. In addition, the capacity law of England and Scotland is compared with the equivalent system in Indian law, which is at a nascent stage of development in comparison to the United Kingdom. The fact that India, despite being an Eastern country, also retains the influence of U.K law through its status as a Commonwealth country, means that the differences between the English, Scottish and Indian approaches to capacity can be attributed to issues of culture or development. The research undertaken for this thesis has shown that developmental issues are of greater impact, and while cultural issues are of some relevance, there are enough underlying commonalities between the three jurisdictions to suggest that India's capacity law is at a different point developmentally speaking.
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