THE

JURISPRUDENCE OF MEDICINE

IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE

Law of Contracts, Torts, and Evidence,

WITH A SUPPLEMENT ON

THE LIABILITIES OF VENDORS OF DRUGS.

LANE LIBRARY

BY

JOHN ORDRONAUX, LL.B., M.D.,

PROFESSOR OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE IN THE LAW SCHOOL OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK, ETC., ETC.

'Potius ignoratio Juris litigiosa est quam scientia."-CICERO DE LEGIES.

PHILADELPHIA:

LANE

MEDICAL

LIBRARY

15425
SAN FRANCISCO

T. & J. W. JOHNSON & CO.,

LAW BOOKSELLERS, PUBLISHERS AND IMPORTERS,

In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

HENRY B. ASHMEAD, PRINTER,

1102 and 1101 Sansom Street.

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK,

IN APPRECIATION OF HIS ATTAINMENTS AND INTEGRITY AS A JURISCONSULT;

OF HIS VARIED AND CRITICAL CULTURE AS A SCHOLAR; AND

PREFACE.

THE law of consensual obligations is one upon which so much has been written, that it might seem little else than supererogatory to discuss anew any chapter in it. But experience constantly demonstrates the fact that, while ponderous treatises majestically absorb the territory of particular sciences, they do not necessarily glean the entire harvest which it is capable of affording. Following in the track of even the most accomplished reaper, some few unobserved heads of wheat may be found, out of which to form still another sheaf. Nor, because humble in size, or unpretending in character, does it follow that it may not add something to those stores out of which the human mind may be fed.

Having often been consulted by physicians in relation to their professional rights at law, and being compelled, in verification of my opinions, to search for precedents, or, in the absence of recorded adjudications, to seek for analogies outside of any works on the positive law of contracts, I became long ago convinced that there existed definite and well-marked branch of the department of obligations, upon which no systematic collection or expo