ABSTRACT
For all those centuries during which there was little that medicine could do
for all the ills to which flesh is heir, the end of life was, as a legal matter,
relatively unproblematic. Neonatal, perinatal, and puerperal deaths were
common, as were childhood and adolescent deaths from accident and dis-
ease. For those few who survived to old age, death usually occurred at
home with minimal medical intervention. With respect to each of these
forms of death, the law was distinctly a background figure, lightly policing
the scene for evidence of foul play, and loosely presiding over the distribution of whatever assets the decedent had left behind.
