Annual address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New-York, February 6, 1828 / by T. Romeyn Beck.

  • Beck, Theodric Romeyn, 1791-1855.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New-York, February 6, 1828 / by T. Romeyn Beck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Bodily or mental injury—or on the nature of particular dis- eases and affections. This indeed was the natural result of a regard to the interests of society. As the importance of equal lavtfs became more fully recognized, and the necessity of distributing impartial justice was more fully understood, it would soon suggest itself to the legislator, that whenever evidence was required, it should be of the most unexception- able and decisive kind. When the controversy originated in mercantile disputes, the opinions of merchants were of course sought for and depended on ; and their customs and usages have become a part of the statutes of various coun- tries. So also when unexpected death followed from known or supposed injury—when the suspicion of violence entered into the list of causes, it was natural, that sooner or later, those should be called upon to examine and testify, whose ordinary studies and pursuits best enabled them to decide. We find that it is now' nearly three centuries since a formal enactment in a European code recognized this principle— The emperor Charles the Fifth, the most powerful, and probably the most talented monarch of his day, in the cel- ebrated criminal code, framed by him at Ratisbon, in 1532, ordained, that the opinion of medical men should be taken in every case where death had been occasioned by violent means—such as child murder, poisoning, wounds, hanging, drowning, and the like. France and other continental countries soon followed this example, and improved upon its directions. In England, the country from which we derive our laws, no formal sta- tutory provision on this subject is, I believe, to be found £ but custom lias sanctioned what the necessity of the case ren- dered imperious—an appeal to medical testimony. Yet it cannot be denied, that this appeal is still avoided as often as public sentiment will permit, and even when legally or- dered, its proper objects are often thwarted or imperfectly ac- complished. The principle, however, is recognized and must often be acted upon both there and in this country, ft then Becomes a most interesting question, how it shall be best performed for the furtherance of the ends of justice—in punishing the guilty and rescuing the innocent—how the obstacles to its proper knowledge shall be best obviated— and liow the difficulties that attend its execution may b© lessened or removed.