Parliament, Physicians, and Nuisances

In Britain in 1830, nuisances legally comprised a heterogeneous collection of irritants, united by their ability to cause hurt, inconvenience, or damage. The only legal remedies for nuisances that applied to the entire country were provided through the common law. Though respected, common-law procedure was time consuming, costly, uncertain, and intended to protect the enjoyment of property, not of health. Dangers to health could be removed if they were a nuisance, yet health hazards were not conceptualized separately from nuisances in general, nor were they dealt with differently in practice. This paper demonstrates that during the 1831â 32 cholera epidemic, and again in 1846, the executive and the legislature created a strictly medicalized health hazard as part of the transformation in nuisance law and practice. The paper argues, however, that the creation of a medicalized health hazard was a defensive reaction on the part of central authorities. Indeed, after 1846 Parliament retreated from a strictly medicalized health hazard in the face of local resistance and skepticism, and by 1855 physicians played only a marginal and supporting role in nuisance practice. The development of nuisance law thus illustrates the local inspiration for sanitary reform and the often highly contested nature of central interventions

Hazard · Law and economics · Legislature · Nuisance · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Historical and Scientific Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Law

• Re-Odorization, Disease, and Emotion in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England

  Open Access•William Tullett•The Historical Journal•2018

  Añadir item

• The life and times of Sir Edwin Chadwick

  S E Finer•The life and times of Sir Edwin…•1952

  Añadir item

• Contagion and the State in Europe, 1830-1930

  Open Access•Peter Baldwin•Contagion and the State in…•1999

  Añadir item

• Popular Movements c. 1830–1850

  Open Access•J T Ward•Popular Movements c. 1830–1850•1970

  Añadir item

• The Greville Memoirs

  Open Access•Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville, Henry Reeve•Greville Memoirs : Volume 1•2011

  Añadir item

• Edwin Chadwick, "Mutton Medicine," and the Fever Question

  Christine Hamlin, Christopher Hamlin•Bulletin of the history of medicine•1996

  Añadir item

• The Public's Reaction to Public Health

  Jill Hanley, J G Hanley•Social History of Medicine•2002

  Añadir item

• Medical men, industrial labour and the state in Britain, 1830–50∗

  Robert Gray•Social History•1991

  Añadir item

• The Local Acts of a National Parliament

  Open Access•Joanna Innes•Parliamentary History•1998

  Añadir item

• Expert Witnesses. Science, Medicine and the Practice of Law

  John Jackson, Carol A G Jones et al.•Journal of Law and Society•1995

  Añadir item

• Medicine, Property and the Law in Britain 1800–1914

  Open Access•M A Crowther, Brenda M White•The Historical Journal•1988

  Añadir item

• Cholera 1832

  Charles E Rosenberg, Richard J Morris•The American Historical Review•1977

  Añadir item

• The Monster Nuisance of All

  Open Access•A E Dingle, Α Ε Dingle•The Economic History Review•1982

  Añadir item

• Edwin Chadwick and the Public Health Movement, 1832-1854

  Wilfred Ashworth, R A Lewis•The Economic History Review•1953

  Añadir item

• Some Influences Affecting the Development of Sanitary Legislation in England

  Bryan Keith-Lucas•The Economic History Review•1954

  Añadir item

• Power and Authority in the Victorian City

  Roderick Church, R A Church et al.•The Economic History Review•1980

  Añadir item