Blood and Expertise

The Trials of the Female Medical Expert in the Ancien-R gime Courtroom

Bibliographic Data

ID15025513
AuthorsCathy McClive (Durham University, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume82
Issue1
Pages86-108
Publication date2008-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the history of medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-5140 • E-ISSN: 1086-3176
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/bhm.2008.0039
PMID18344586
OpenAlexW2088802534
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited8

This article explores the obstacles faced by the female medical expert in the early modern courtroom through a close reading of three case studies: Marie Garnier, expert midwife tried for false testimony in 1665, and Ang lique Perrotin and Barbe-Fran oise D'Igard, accused of false accusation of rape and infant substitution, respectively, in the 1730s. The difficulties of determining the veracity of the corporeal signs of a crime were particularly acute with regard to the reproductive female body, which was perceived to be less reliable than its male counterpart. The ability of the female medical expert to accurately and truthfully interpret such signs was also questionable, and at times she seems to have been as much "on trial" as the bodies of those she examined

Ancien regime · Criminology · False accusation · Political science · Reading (process) · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology

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