Abstract
The question of mental competence arises in many different areas of the law. In order to make contracts and wills, have criminal responsibility, be a witness, or stand trial, a person must be mentally competent. Obviously, however, not every degree of mental deficiency or peculiarity is legally significant. Moreover, there is no single test of competence for these various contexts; rather, competency is defined in different ways for different purposes [56]. As a result, and somewhat paradoxically, a person can be legally incompetent in some areas while remaining legally competent in others. For example, since the law requires a lower degree of capacity in the making of wills than it does for the execution of contracts, one may be competent to make a will but incompetent to transact ordinary business affairs.