The limits of law in the protection of public health and the role of public health ethics.

This paper examines ways in which the legal concepts of duty and power might be used for the benefit of the public health, and the role of public health ethics in relation to these duties and powers. The discussion is placed within a framework of risk regulation. Risk is a notion which has been much examined in social science and epidemiology but until recently, has not been a concept which law has addressed to any real degree. A quick glance at government websites suggests that contemporary government in the United Kingdom is preoccupied with the notion of risk, and in particular regulatory frameworks for the assessment of risk. The concept of risk has now entered into our legal vocabulary to enable new kinds of public duties, creating the potential for using risk regulation as a public health legal tool.