Preview
Creation Date
1819
Description
Tracts on Medical Jurisprudence. Philadelphia: Published by James Webster, Thomas Town, Printer, 1819.
Medical jurisprudence in the early 19th century was a developing professional field between medicine and the law, and a precursor of forensic medicine. This 1819 compilation is the first major American publication on the subject. The table of contents on display here demonstrates the degree to which the field was concerned with female bodies. The authors anticipated that doctors would need to examine women to determine if they were pregnant or had been pregnant; when and if they had ever had a child; or if they had been raped.
Keywords
Medical jurisprudence, Women's rights, Expert evidence