Volume 1

Medical jurisprudence, forensic medicine and toxicology / by R.A. Witthaus and Tracy C. Becker.

  • Rudolph August Witthaus
Date:
1894-1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical jurisprudence, forensic medicine and toxicology / by R.A. Witthaus and Tracy C. Becker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Medico-legal science was formed in the middle of the six- teenth century by a simultaneous awakening of jurists and ph5^sicians to the importance of the subject. It was in Germany that expert medical testimony was first legally recognized. In 1507, George, Bishop of Bamberg, pro- claimed a criminal code in his domains. This was subse- quently adopted by other German states, and finally was the model upon which the Caroline Code, the first general criminal code applying to the whole empire, was framed and proclaimed at the Diet of Ratisbon in 1532.* These codes, particularly the Caroline, distinctly provide for utilizing the testimony of physicians. Wounds are to be examined by surgeons who are “ to be used as witnesses and in case of death one or more surgeons are to “ examine the dead body carefully before burial.”' They also contain provisions for the examination of women in cases of contested delivery, or suspected infanticide; ^ for the regulation of the sale of poisons;' for the detection and punishment of malpractice;® and for ex- amination into the mental condition in cases of suicide and of crime.’ An early work on the practice of criminal law, based on the Caroline Code, was published by the Flemish jurist, Josse de Damhouder, in 1554. It contains a chapter treating of the lethality of wounds, which should be determined by expert physicians and surgeons,® and describes the course which is to be pursued in the judicial examination of dead bodies. This is probably the earliest printed book (other than the laws them- selves) containing reference to medico-legal examinations,® and antedates the writings of physicians upon the subject. Although it was only in 1670 that the Ordinances of Louis XIV. gave to France a uniform criminal code, medico-legal reports were made by physicians and surgeons to the courts ' “CoDstitutio criminalis Caro- lina. ” The first edition was printed at Mayence, 1533, fol., by J. Schof- fer. See also Kopp, “Jahrb. d. Staatsarznk.,” Frankf., 1808, i., 183. * “Con. cr. Car.,” art. 147. * Ihid., art. 149. livid., arts. 35, 36, 131, 133; “ BatnberKische Halssgerichts-Or- denung, ” Bamb., 1507, art. 44. ® “Con. cr. Car.,” art. 37. ® Ibid., art. 134. ’ Ibid., arts. 135, 179, 219. ®“Non perquoslibet, necper insi- pidos et imperitos, sed tantum ]>er peritos ac doctos medicos aut chi- rurgos, ” p. 245. » “Praxis Rerutn Criminalium,” Antw., 1554 (the dedicatory epis- tle is dated 1551), pp. 245-252, 223-228.