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Previous Volume 352:652-654 February 17, 2005 Number 7 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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We have on our statute book a law that compels . . . a man to offer up his body to pollution and filth and disease; that compels him to submit to a barbarous ceremonial of blood-poisoning, and virtually to say to a sick calf, "Thou art my savior: in thee do I trust. . . ."

— Brief of the Defendant, Commonwealth v. Jacobson, 183 Mass. 242 (1903)

Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.

— Supreme Court . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Ms. Parmet is a professor of law at Northeastern University School of Law, Boston; Dr. Goodman is the codirector of the Public Health Law Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; Dr. Farber is a student at Northeastern University School of Law and a research fellow at the Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

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