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9 - Public health law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2009

Tamara K. Hervey
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Jean V. McHale
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
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Summary

Introduction

The law's engagement with public health provides one of the earliest illustrations of the interface between health and legal regulation. The scourges of typhoid, cholera and the plague led to nation states introducing explicit legal regulation of such diseases. This took the form in many instances of draconian legislative restrictions upon personal freedom. References to the isolation of lepers are to be found in the Old Testament. Practices of quarantine can be traced back to 1000 and Venetian legislative statutes concerning plague quarantine relate to 1127. By the fourteenth century, overseers in Venice were authorised to spend public money for the purpose of quarantining persons, goods and ships on an island in the lagoon.

While, for centuries, detention was the response to perceived dangers to public health, over time, the law in some European countries began to be used to facilitate a more sophisticated response. Concerns regarding the spread of disease were linked to poor living conditions and inadequate sanitation. The revolution in public health in the UK, for example, was linked to the reforming zeal of Edwin Chadwick, who argued that the root cause of infectious disease could be found in poor sanitation. Through the reports of the Royal Commission on the Health of Towns established in 1843, the momentum developed for legislative amendment. In 1848, the UK passed the Public Health Act which, rather than the “reactive” quarantine practices, can be seen as one of the major steps towards “proactive” public health.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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  • Public health law
  • Tamara K. Hervey, University of Nottingham, Jean V. McHale, University of Leicester
  • Book: Health Law and the European Union
  • Online publication: 10 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617553.009
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  • Public health law
  • Tamara K. Hervey, University of Nottingham, Jean V. McHale, University of Leicester
  • Book: Health Law and the European Union
  • Online publication: 10 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617553.009
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Public health law
  • Tamara K. Hervey, University of Nottingham, Jean V. McHale, University of Leicester
  • Book: Health Law and the European Union
  • Online publication: 10 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617553.009
Available formats
×