Open AccessWhence and whither ‘modern medical law’?
Author(s) -
Margaret Brazier,
Jonathan Montgomery
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
northern ireland legal quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2514-4936
pISSN - 0029-3105
DOI - 10.53386/nilq.v70i1.229
Subject(s) - deference , law , legal history , scholarship , political science , jurisprudence , comparative law , health law , legal profession , sociology , health care , health policy , international health
Academic study of law relating to healthcare has flourished in the UK. Yet our field of study is often seen as ‘new’, both as an ‘area of importance in legal practice and as an academic discipline’. We argue that practical engagement between English law and medicine has a long history, a history revealing that claims of historic deference from one learned profession (the law) to another (medicine) is a myth. We further contend that ‘medical law’ as an academic discipline also enjoys a history. We explore these histories by looking back to the late medieval and early modern eras, and then show that crucial developments in more recent history have been overlooked in the emphasis on medical law as ‘new’. An appreciation of whence ‘medical law’ is crucial to assessing how future directions for law and scholarship in relation to the regulation of health may develop – whither it may go.