PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE object of the author of these pages, is to give a concise and comprehensive view of the received Principles of Medical Jurisprudence, and to collect the scattered and isolated facts from the standard works of legal and medical writers. He He is inclined to hope that this volume contains all that is valuable in the systematic works upon the subject; and numerous other topics of vast importance to medical practitioners, which have no place in similar productions. In proof of this assertion, he refers the reader to the ethical and legal parts of this work, and to the articles on medical evidence, adulterations of alimentary matters, and public medicine. He hopes that the promulgation of Medical Ethics, or the institutes of professional conduct, will contribute in no small degree to maintain and support the honour, dignity, character, and utility of the profession, by impressing the minds of medical students with a sense of the noble and virtuous principles which have always characterised their predecessors, and which ought ever to distinguish the scientific cultivators of medicine. Another novel and important feature in this production is, the exposition of the laws relating to the different orders of the faculty in these kingdoms, which cannot fail to prove instructive and useful to medical practitioners, by informing them of the immense power, vast influence, and high privileges, conferred upon them by the legislature, in exempting them from the performance of many civil duties, and in deeming their evidence conclusive in an immense number of civil and criminal proceedings, which affect the lives, the liberty, the honour, reputation, and property, of every class of society. For many facts mentioned in this part of the subject, the author is indebted to the works of Dr. Paris, and Mr. Fon blanque, of Mr. Willcocks, of Mr. Scully, the celebrated Irish barrister; of Mr. Phelan and Mr. Chitty. The medical part has been compiled from the standard systems on Forensic Medicine, both domestic and foreign, and illustrated by the opinions and experience of the author. The works of Drs. Male, Gordon Smith, Duncan, Paris, Beck, Christison, Foderè, Mahon, Chaussier, Orfila, Briand, Sedillot, &c. have been laid under large contribution, and the extracts duly acknowledged. The chapter on medical evidence has been condensed from the valuable lectures delivered in the London University by Professor Amos, as published in the London Medical Gazette. Under this head are considered the powers of coroners, and the propriety and expediency of appointing medical men to the office of coroner. The addition of the forms of medical certificates, and the method of examining recruits, were considered useful for the guidance of young practitioners. It has been the author's anxious wish to compress the fullest information in the smallest space, and in the most familiar language, in order to simplify the subject, and render it intelligible to every class of medical practitioners, to barristers, solicitors, coroners, magistrates, private gentlemen, and general readers. Every medico-legal fact which can become the subject of judicial inquiry, is accurately detailed, so that this Manual may be fairly looked upon as a text-book for the practitioners of the law and medicine. It is intended to save both classes much trouble and research. Whether the author has executed his task in a satisfactory manner, must be decided by his contemporaries; but he consoles himself with the reflection, that his design and intention were good, had he sufficient ability to execute it as he wished. In exposing the absurd distinctions, the defective state of the laws relating to the profession, and the gross abuses of its constituted authorities, a love of freedom and of equality, with an ardent desire to promote the interests of his favourite science, and of humanity, have impelled him to declare the truth, however unpalatable it may be in certain quarters, or to the different orders of the faculty. His motto has been, "amicus Socrates, amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas." He has not been the advocate of any party, of any order, of any corporation, but the advocate of the whole profession. He has examined the whole of the charters and statutes relating to the practice of medicine in these countries, and has found them defective, contradictory, oppressive; and, since the legislative Unions between England, Scotland, and Ireland, highly unjust and impolitic. In proof of this statement, the reader has only to recollect the fact, that a Scotch physician, surgeon, or apothecary, cannot practise legally in England; an English member of the faculty cannot practise in Ireland; and an Irish member can neither practise in England nor in Scotland. Such is the state of the law, which was just and right when the three countries were distinct nations, but is unjust and preposterous since they have formed one united empire. The author has, therefore, considered that there never was a more auspicious period than the present, for exposing the absurd state of the laws relating to the faculty in the United Kingdom, when the propriety of constitutional, ecclesiastical, and legal reforms, is the subject of national discussion; and when medical reform is loudly demanded by the whole profession, with the exception of the few interested monopolists. It need scarcely be stated, that the principles and practice of medicine and therapeutical agents, are identically the same in every part of these countries. Medical jurisprudence is at length included in the course of study required by the Apothecaries' Company of London; but it is strangely excluded in the course required by the Royal College of Surgeons. Had not the University of London appointed a professor of Forensic Medicine, chiefly at the recommendation of the philanthropic Dr. Birkbeck, this branch of medical science would as yet have no place in the course of medical education required in England. Nevertheless, the most casual observer must be convinced, by daily examples, that the ignorance of ethics and medical jurisprudence, impedes or arrests the career of the medical practitioner, and frequently destroys professional reputation altogether. If proof were demanded of the validity of this position, I need only refer to the newspaper reports of legal proceedings, in which we daily observe ample attestations of the fact. We peruse the most absurd and unscientific medical evidence, more especially in the reports of coroners' inquests, which could never have appeared, had the witness possessed a proper knowledge of forensic medicine, or had the coroner been a medical practitioner. Such displays of ignorance excite the pity and contempt of the scientific portion of the faculty, and the ridicule of the legal profession, and of the public. Mr. Amos has well illustrated this defect, in his admirable cautions to medical witnesses, in which he has cited many cases to prove, that medical evidence has been censured by the bench, ridiculed by the bar, derided by the auditory, and has entailed obloquy and disgrace upon the unfortunate witness. Medical practitioners should be aware, that all the rising barristers of our criminal courts attend lectures on legal medicine; and often does forensic fame arise from the ability with which an advocate examines a medical witness. A knowledge of medico-legal science is almost as indispensable to the one as to the other; and the coroner who is ignorant of it, is evidently incompetent to discharge his duty to the public, or to secure impartial justice to the accuser or accused. This has been incontrovertibly proved in the article on medical evidence. It has been erroneously stated by some writers, that the science of medical jurisprudence, is nothing more than the application of the elementary branches of medicine, to the elucidation of judicial investigations; and, consequently, that a scientific medical practitioner must necessarily be a good jurist. This is not correct, inasmuch as the most scientific physicians and surgeons have too often proved to be the worst jurists; because they could not derive the requisite information on medico-legal science from the common systems of medicine or surgery, as it is only to be obtained from works exclusively devoted to the subject. In no lectures or works, except those upon this science, is a student informed of the laws relating to his profession; of his rights, privileges, and immunities; of the cases, civil and criminal, on which he is liable to be called to give evidence of the received opinions |