The relationship between society, medicine, and the law is multi-faceted and complex. This Article examines the process of, and the influences on, the construction of fetal personhood in the legal discourses in American and Commonwealth case law and statutes. It demonstrates how the physical and visual separation of the fetus, as made possible by medical advances, has influenced the development...

Within the common law world, the use of the term informed consent implies the American doctrine. Informed consent as a doctrine is not part of the law in the United Kingdom. However, it is possible to predict a way forward in disclosure cases yet to be heard in the courts of the United Kingdom. These predictions are based on current developments in the common law in the United Kingdom as well a...

The medical profession consistently strives to uphold patient empowerment, equality and safety. It is ironic that now, at a time where advances in technology and knowledge have given us an increased capacity to preserve and prolong life, we find ourselves increasingly asking questions about the value of the lives we are saving. A recent editorial by Professor Raanan Gillon questions the emphasi...

In a common law system, cases play a vital role in interpreting statutes, building arguments, organizing analyses, and crafting specific points of view. Legal research often begins with statutes or regulations, the primary law passed by the legislature or regulatory agency in the relevant jurisdiction. Cases in turn interpret those statutes and regulations. Cases may be the sole source of the l...

To grasp fully the significance of this principle (which is usually described by using the Latin maxim nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege) a few words of introduction are necessary. National legal systems tend to embrace, and ground their criminal law on either the doctrine of substantive justice or that of strict legality. Under the former doctrine the legal order must primarily aim at prohib...