LEGAL MEDICINE PRELIMINARY PERIOD

Ambroise Pare: He considered that legal medicine is a separate discipline and he

discussed in his book, abortion, infanticide, death by lightning, hanging, drowning, feign
disease, distinction between ante-mortem and post-mortem wound and poisoning by
carbon monoxide and corrosives.

Antistius: The first “police surgeon” or forensic pathologist. He found out that Julius
Caesar suffered from twenty-three wounds and only one penetrated the chest cavity
through the space between the first and second ribs.

Autoptic or Real Evidence: This is an evidence made known or addressed to the

senses of the court. It is not limited to that which is known through the sense of vision
but is extended to what the sense of hearing, taste, smell and touch is perceived.

Circumstantial Evidence: The proof of fact or facts from which, taken either
singly or collectively, the existence of a particular fact in dispute maybe inferred as a
necessary or probable consequence.

Code of Hammurabi: The oldest code of law (2200 BC)which includes the
legislation on adultery, rape, divorce, incest, abortion, and violence.

Corpus Delicti: Objects or substances which maybe a part of the body of the crime

Deposition: It is a written record of evidence given orally and transcribed in writing in

the form of questions by the interrogator and the answer of the deponent and signed by
the latter.

Direct Evidence: Evidence that which proves the fact in dispute without the aid of
any inference or presumption. The evidence presented corresponds to the precise or
actual point at issue.

Documentary Evidence: It is an instrument on which is recorded by means of letters,

figures, or marks intended to be used for the purpose of recording the matter which
maybe evidentially used.

Evidence: Is the means, sanctioned by the Rules of Court, of ascertaining in a

judicial proceeding the truth respecting a matter of fact.

Forensic: It denotes anything belonging to the court of law or used in court or legal
proceedings or something fitted for legal or public argumentation.

Hippocrates: He discussed (460-355 B.C) the lethality of wounds.

His Yuan Lu (Instructions to Coroner): It is a five volume book dealing with

inquest, criminal abortion, infanticide, signs of death, assault, suicide, hanging,
strangling, drowning, burning, poisoning, and antidotes, and examination of the dead.

Imhotep: He was the chief physician and architect of King Zoser of the third
dynasty in Egypt and the builder of the first pyramid.

Jurisprudence: It is a practical science which investigates the nature, origin,

development, and functions of law. It is a science of giving a wise interpretation of the
law.

Justinian: In his Digest, he mentioned that a physician is not an ordinary witness

and that a physician gives judgment rather than testimony.
Law: It is a rule of conduct, just and obligatory, laid by legitimate power for common
observance and benefit.

Legal: That which pertains to law, arising out of, by virtue of or included in law. It
also refers to anything conformable to the letters or rules of law as it is administered by
the court.

Legal Medicine: A branch of medicine which deals with the application of medical
knowledge to the purposes of law and in the administration of justice.

Medicine: It is a science and art dealing with prevention, cure and alleviation of
disease. It is that part of science and art of restoring and preserving health.

Paulus Zacchias: A papal physician and is regarded as the “Father of Forensic

Medicine”.

Preservation in the Mind of Witness: A person who perceived something relevant for
proper adjudication of a case maybe a witness in court if he has the power to transmit to
others what he perceived.

Principle of Stare Decisis: A principle that, when the court has once laid down a
principle of law or interpretation as applied to a certain state of facts, it will adhere to
and apply to all future cases where the facts are substantially the same.

Sec. 95, PD 856 or the Code of Sanitation: One of the provisions of the law which
states that health officers, medical officers of law enforcement agencies and members
of medical staff of accredited hospital are authorized by law to conduct autopsies.

Tracing Evidence: These are physical evidences which may assist the investigator in
locating the suspect.

Characteristics of the law

1. It is a rule of conduct;
2. It is dictated by legitimate power; and
3. Compulsory and obligatory to all.

Branches of law where legal medicine may be applied

1. Civil Law;
2. Criminal Law;
3. Remedial Law; and
4. Special Laws

Provisions of the Revised Penal Code where legal medicine maybe applied
1. Circumstances affecting criminal liability;
2. Crimes against person; and
3. Crimes against chastity

Persons authorized to perform autopsies

1. Health Officers;
2. Medical officers of law enforcement agencies; and
3. Members of the medical staff of accredited hospitals

Cases where autopsies shall be performed

1. Whenever required by special laws;
2. Upon order of a competent court;
3. Upon request of police authorities;
 4. Whenever the Solicitor General, Provincial or City Prosecutor deem it necessary
to disenter and take possession of the remains for examination to determine the
cause of death; and
5. Whenever the nearest kin shall request in writing the authorities concerned to
ascertain the cause of death.

Types of medical evidence

1. Autoptic or Real Evidence;
2. Testimonial Evidence;
3. Experimental Evidence;
4. Documentary Evidence; and
5. Physical Evidence

Methods of preserving evidence

1. Photographs, audio/ or video tape, microfilm, Photostat, photocopying, voice tracing
etc;
2. Sketching;
3. Description;
4. Manikin Method;
5. Preservation in the mind of witness

Kinds of evidence necessary for conviction

1. Direct evidence;
2. Circumstantial Evidence

Different types of physical evidence

1. Corpus delicti evidence;
2. Associative evidence; and
3. Tracing evidence

Discuss the following:

1. Distinction between an ordinary physician and a medical jurist; and
2. Factors that must be considered which party’s evidence preponderate.