ABSTRACT
Forensic & legal medicine is a term used to describe aspects of medicine and healthcare that directly or indirectly interact with legal processes and justice systems, often closely involving human rights and may relate to living and deceased individuals. Forensic & legal medicine (sometimes referred to as legal & forensic medicine) embraces forensic pathology, clinical forensic medicine and medical jurisprudence. Some practitioners work in all three settings, others in one or two of these areas, but all overlap. The development of forensic & legal medicine extends back thousands of years and is often said to have originated in China. Its progression and development as an academic discipline progressed in Europe and the United Kingdom predominantly from the eighteenth century. It should now be considered complementary to the many other specialized forensic scientific disciplines. This Chapter identifies key elements of its development, with examples from around the world.
