Medical Jurisprudence

Medical Jurisprudence

In the Past

That science which applies the principles and practice of the different branches of medicine to the elucidation of doubtful questions in courts of justice. By some authors, it is used in a more extensive sense and also comprehends Medical Police or those medical precepts which may prove useful to the legislature or the magistracy. Some authors, instead of using the phrase medical jurisprudence, employ, to convey the same idea, those of legal medicine, forensic medicine, or, as the Germans have it, state medicine.

Developments

The best American writers on this subject are Doctors T. R. Beck and J. B. Beck, Elements of Medical Jurisprudence; Doctor Thomas Cooper; Doctor James S. Stringham, who was the first individual to deliver a course of lectures on medical jurisprudence, in the United States of America; Doctor Charles Caldwell. Among the British writers may be enumerated Doctor John Gordon Smith; Doctor Male; Doctor Paris and Mr. Fonblanque, who published a joint work; Mr. Chitty and Dr. Ryan. The French writers are many; Briand, Biessy, Esquirol, Georget, Falret, Trebuchet, Mare and others, have written treatises or published papers on this subject; the learned Fodere published a work entitled “Les Lois eclairees par les sciences physiques ou Traité de Médécine Légale et d'hygiéne publique;” the “Annale d'hygiéne et de Médécine Legale,” is one of the most valued works on this subject. Among the Germans may be found Rose's Manual on Medico Legal Dissection; Metzger's Principles of Legal Medicine and others. The reader is referred for a list of authors and their works on Medical Jurisprudence, to Dupin, Profession d'Avocat, tom. ii., p. 343, art. 1617 to 1636, bis. For a history of the rise and progress of Medical Jurisprudence, see Traill, Med. Jur. 13. [1]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Partialy, this information about medical jurisprudence is based on the Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier's Law Dictionary, including medical jurisprudence.

See Also