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PUBLIC HEALTH, LAW OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 628 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PUBLIC See also:

HEALTH, See also:LAW OF . See also:State See also:medicine as an organized See also:department of See also:administration is entirely of See also:modern growth. By the See also:common law of See also:England the only remedy for any See also:act or omission dangerous to health was an See also:action for See also:damages or an See also:indictment for See also:nuisance. The indictment for nuisance still lies for many offences which are now punishable in a See also:summary manner under the See also:powers of modern legislation. But for a See also:long See also:time it was the only, not as now a concurrent, remedy. At a comparatively See also:early date statutes were passed dealing with matters for which the common law had provided too cumbrous a remedy, while the See also:plague called forth the act of r Jac. I. c. 31 (1603), which made it a See also:capital offence for an infected See also:person to go abroad after being commanded by the proper authority to keep his See also:house. The act for the rebuilding of See also:London after the See also:great See also:fire, Ig See also:Car. II. c. 3 (1668), contained various provisions as to the height of houses, breadth of streets, construction of sewers and See also:prohibition of See also:noisome trades. Numerous See also:local acts gave the authorities of the more important towns See also:power over the public health.

But it was not until 1848 that a See also:

general Public Health Act, embracing the whole of England (except the See also:Metropolis), was passed. The Public Health Act 1848 created a general See also:board of health as the supreme authority in sanitary matters, but greater local sanitary See also:control was given by an act of 1858. The local See also:government board, the See also:present central authority, wascreated by an act of 1871. Numerous acts dealing with public health were passed from 1849 to 1874; and the law was digested into the Public Health Act 1875, as amended by the Local Government Act 1894 and other acts. The tendency of See also:English sanitary legislation has been to See also:place local sanitary regulations in the hands of the local authorities, subject to general superintendence by a government department. The See also:jurisdiction of a local authority is both preventive and remedial. The matters falling under it are very numerous, but the more important will be found in the See also:article ENGLAND: Local Government. The act of 1875 was followed by the Public Health Acts See also:Amendment Act 189o, the Public Health Act 1896 and the Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1907. The first of these statutes confers enlarged powers on such local authorities as choose to adopt it—the right of See also:adoption being general in the See also:case of See also:urban authorities, and in that of rural authorities limited to certain specified See also:pro-visions unless extended by the local government board. The Public Health Acts 1896 and 1904 abolished the old See also:system of See also:quarantine (q.v.), and empowered the local government board to make regulations as to the landing or embarking of infected persons from See also:ships, See also:British or See also:foreign; while the act of 1907 enabled local authorities to adopt many of the useful clauses introduced into private bills from time to time, See also:relating not only to sanitary provisions, but to streets and buildings, See also:milk, &c. See also:supply, recreation grounds, See also:sky-signs, &c. Elaborate See also:provision has been made for the notification of infectious diseases by the Infectious Diseases (Notification) Acts 1889 and 1899. The former See also:statute was originally adoptive only, but it has now been extended by the latter to every See also:district in England or See also:Wales—in London notification has been compulsory since 1891.

Reference should be made also to the following statutes: the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act 1890 provides for the inspection of dairies, and the cleansing and disinfecting of premises, and under the Public Health (Ports) Act 1896 the local government board may by See also:

order assign to any See also:port sanitary authority powers or duties arising under this statute. The See also:scope of the See also:Baths and Washhouses Acts 1846 to 1882 sufficiently appears from the See also:title. The See also:Isolation' Hospitals Act 1893 enables See also:county See also:councils to promote the See also:establishment of hospitals for the reception of patients suffering from infectious diseases; the Cleansing of Persons Act 1897 enables local authorities to permit persons who apply to them, on the ground that they are infested with See also:vermin, to have the gratuitous use of cleansing apparatus; and the See also:Vaccination Acts of 1898 and 1907 profoundly modified the law as to vaccination by giving a discretion to magistrates. See too, among other acts, those of 1881 (See also:alkali See also:works), 1882 (See also:fruit pickers), 1883 (epidemics), 1884 (See also:cholera), 1904 (See also:shop See also:hours), 1905 (medical inspection of aliens) and numerous others. In addition to these statutes, See also:account has to be taken of a large See also:body of legislation which relates indirectly to the law of public health, or at least comes well within its range of operation. It deals with a very great variety of subjects, and only the slightest See also:sketch of its results need be given here. (For factories and See also:work-shops, see LABOUR LEGISLATION, and for See also:merchant See also:shipping, see See also:SEAMEN.) The See also:Coal Mines Regulation Act 1896 aims at the prevention of accidents due to inflammable See also:gas and coal-dust in coal mines. The See also:Cotton See also:Cloth Factories Acts 1889 and 1897 enable the See also:home secretary to make regulations for health in cotton See also:mills. The See also:Rivers Pollution Prevention (See also:Borders Councils) Act 1398 enables See also:joint committees of English and Scottish county councils of counties on both sides of the Border to exercise the powers of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act 1876, in relation to any See also:river or tributary which is partly in England and partly in See also:Scotland—an expression including the See also:Tweed. The Notification of Births Act 1907 and the See also:Children Act 1908 (see CHILDREN: Law relating to) have given great See also:protection to See also:infant See also:life. Lastly, reference may be made to the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act 1894, which consolidated the law on this subject. London.—Down to the See also:year 1891 London was governed in matters of public health by a See also:series of See also:special statutes (especially the See also:Metropolitan See also:Police Acts), and by provisions in the general statutes.

The law as to the Metropolis was consolidated, and is now regulated by the Public Health (London) Act 1891. The sanitary authorities for the See also:

execution of the act were the commissioners of sewers for the See also:City of London, the vestries of the larger and the district boards of some of the smaller parishes, and varying authorities for See also:Woolwich and some other places. Under the London Government Act 1899, the powers of each existing See also:vestry and district board are transferred to the See also:council of the See also:borough comprising the See also:area within the jurisdiction of such vestry and district board; and the borough councils take over certain of the powers of the county council (e.g. as to dairies, milk, slaughter-houses and offensive businesses) and exercise concurrent jurisdiction with it in other matters. Provision is made for the See also:appointment of medical See also:officers of health and sanitary inspectors. The medical officer is for some purposes placed on the footing of a district poor-law medical officer, and he cannot be removed without the consent of the local government board. In its structure and substance the Public Health (London) Act 1891, which consists of 144 sections, closely resembles the general acts (see LONDON, § iv.). The law of public health in London is also affected by a number of later statutes relating to the Metropolis alone, such as the London See also:Building Acts 1894 and 1898, the Baths and Washhouses Act 1896, the Canals Protection (London) Act 1898, &c. Scotland.—Sanitary legislation occurs as early as the reign of See also:Alexander III. The Statuta Gilde, c. 19, forbade the See also:deposit of dung or ashes in the See also:street, See also:market, or on the See also:banks of the Tweed at See also:Berwick, under a See also:penalty of eight shillings. At a later date the act of 1540, c. 20, enacted that no flesh was to be slain in See also:Edinburgh on the See also:east See also:side of the See also:Leith Wynd; that of 1621, c.

29, fixed the locality of fleshers and candlemakers. The various statutes relating to public health in Scotland are now consolidated and amended by the Public Health (Scotland) Act 1897, which, together with the Infectious Diseases Notification Act 1889 and the See also:

Burgh Pclice (Scotland) Act 1892, constitute the statutory law of Scottish sanitary administration. The central authority is the local government board for Scotland. The local authorities are—(i.) in burghs under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1892, the See also:town council or burgh commissioners; (ii.) in other burghs, the town council or board of police; (iii.) in districts where the county is divided into districts, the district See also:committee; (iv.) in counties not so divided, the county council. The substantive provisions are similar to those of the English acts. See also:Ireland.—Several acts of the Irish See also:parliament dealt with specific nuisances, e.g. 5 Geo. III. c. 15, forbidding the laying of filth in the streets of cities or county towns, and making regulations as to sweeping and scavenging. There were also numerous private acts dealing with See also:water-supply and the obstruction of watercourses. In 1878 the existing legislation was consolidated by the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878, a See also:close copy of the English act of 1875. Most of the English acts apply to Ireland with modifications and adaptations.

See also:

United States.—After the See also:Civil See also:War boards of health were established in the See also:chief cities. Public health is under the control of the local authorities to a greater extent than in England. By the Act of See also:Congress of the 25th of See also:February 1799 officers of the United States are See also:bound to observe the health See also:laws of the states. A See also:national board of health was created by the act of the 3rd of See also:March 1879, c. 202; and it was succeeded by the Public Health and Marine See also:Hospital Service, whose chief officer is the surgeon-general and which has jurisdiction in quarantine and in epidemics of a peculiarly dangerous nature.

End of Article: PUBLIC HEALTH, LAW OF

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