Elements of medical jurisprudence / By Theodric Romeyn Beck.

  • Theodric Romeyn Beck
Date:
1825
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of medical jurisprudence / By Theodric Romeyn Beck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    clared that out of twenty-three wounds which had been received, but one was mortal, and that had penetrated the thorax, between the first and second ribs. The body of | Germanicus was also inspected, and by indications confor- mable to the superstitions of the age, it was decided that he had been poisoned.* ‘The code of Justinian contains many provisions apper- taining to this science, which we shall have frequent occa- sion to quote in the subsequent pages. Some of these pro- visions indeed are incorporated into the laws of almost every civilized country at the present day. All the laws of the ancients, however, and all the facts drawn from their history, are to be considered as merely the first glimmerings of knowledge on this subject—and knowledge, too, founded on the imperfect diagnostics which medicine afforded at that early period. It was never or- dained that physicians should be examined on any trial, until after the middle ages, and we are indebted to the emperor Charles the Fifth of Germany, for the first public enactment prescribing it as necessary, and thereby recog- nizing its utility and importance. In the celebrated cri- minal code which was framed by him at Ratisbon, in 1532, and which is known by the name of the “ Constitutio Crimi- nalis Carolina,” or the Caroline code, it is ordained, that the opinion of medical men shall be formally taken in every case where death has been occasioned by violent means— such as child-murder, poisoning, wounds, hanging, drown- ing, the procuring of abortion, and the like. «The publication of such a code very naturally awakened the attention of the medical profession, and summoned nu- merous writers from its ranks.” It was the first regular commencement and origin of legal medicine, and it required only such an enactment to apprehend the utility of which it was susceptible. The kings of France soon became aware of the value of similar institutions. In 1556, Henry IT. promulgated * Foderé. Introduction, p. xxiv.
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