Open AccessJacobson v Massachusetts: It’s Not Your Great-Great-Grandfather’s Public Health Law
Author(s) -
Wendy K. Mariner,
George J. Annas,
Leonard H. Glantz
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2004.055160
Subject(s) - supreme court , law , state (computer science) , power (physics) , constitution , public health , sovereignty , political science , government (linguistics) , supreme court decisions , sociology , medicine , politics , philosophy , linguistics , physics , nursing , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science
Jacobson v Massachusetts, a 1905 US Supreme Court decision, raised questions about the power of state government to protect the public's health and the Constitution's protection of personal liberty. We examined conceptions about state power and personal liberty in Jacobson and later cases that expanded, superseded, or even ignored those ideas. Public health and constitutional law have evolved to better protect both health and human rights. States' sovereign power to make laws of all kinds has not changed in the past century. What has changed is the Court's recognition of the importance of individual liberty and how it limits that power. Preserving the public's health in the 21st century requires preserving respect for personal liberty.