PROPERTY RIGHTS TO OUR BODIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS

This article, written for Peter Johnston, examines issues concerning property rights to our bodies and their products. The questions of principle involved in this area have attracted vast debate and discussion amongst lawyers for two millenia. The underlying questions of legal principle should not be complex. The principles established by the Romans give clear guidance for how these questions should be answered. The difficulty is that the context in which the questions are asked can involve hard policy choices. Legislative intervention still leaves questions about how these choices are to be resolved.