Medical jurisprudence

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Medical jurisprudence, or forensic medicine, that branch of state medicine which treats of the application of medical knowledge to certain questions of civil and criminal law. The term medical jurisprudence, though sanctioned by long usage, is not really appropriate, since the subject is strictly a branch of medicine rather than of jurisprudence; it does not properly include sanitation or hygiene, both this and medical jurisprudence proper being distinct branches of state medicine. The connection between medicine and the law was perceived long before medical jurisprudence was recognized, or had obtained a distinct appellation. It first took its rise in Germany, and more tardily received recognition in Great Britain. Forensic medicine, or medical jurisprudence proper as distinguished from hygiene, embraces all questions which bring the medical man into contact with the law, and embraces (I) questions affecting the civil rights ~ individuals, and (2) injuries to the person.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.