Civil Malpractice in the Middle Ages. extent that before undertaking the cure of a patient the physician was obliged to give a security in order to guarantee the indemnity in case he was unsuccessful. A physician who, while bleeding a free man, wounded him, was liable to pay his family a compensa tion of one hundred and fifty ducats in gold. In case of the death of the patient, the physi cian became the property of the family, who could use its right of vengeance as it saw fit. "Si quis mediáis dum ncotoiniam excrcct, ingenuum debilitaverit, CL solidos coactas e.rolz'at; si vero servían hujusinodi servum restituât (in lege Ervigiana post exalvat leguniur: si vero nwrtuus fuerit propinquis con tinuo tradcndus est ut quod de eo faceré voluerinf habcant potcstantcm.)" A physician could not bleed a free woman unless her husband or some of her near rela tions were present,, because the law said: "DifKcillium non est sub tali occasione ludibriutn intcrdum adcrcscat." In Beugnot's addition to the Assises de Jerusalem will be found many important re marks regarding the liability of physicians in the Middle Ages.1 A physician called to at tend a serf, and by his ignorance caused the death of his patient was condemned to pay the value of the serf and was obliged to leave the city, and I here quote an interesting para graph: "C'il avient par aucune mésaventure que je tiaffre un mien serf ou sen'e, ou aucune autre personne le naffrc, et je i amène un ¡neige et celui meigc s'accorde о met a pris nowné et me dit au tier /or. puisqu'il ot bien vcu la plaie, que bien le garet sans faille; et il avant puisque il le tailla malement ou por ce que ne dezvt être taillé et il le tailla et parce il inourct et parce ijiu- il dci'ct tailler la plaie par la levure et l'apos'. The ideal type of feudal law is that so graphically depicted in the works which pass under the title of the Assizes Je Jerusalem, and which profess to describe the usages of the curious product of the Crusades, the Latin kingdoms of Palestine.
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têtue donc et il le tailla de travers et por ce mourut: la raison juge et commande en ci a juger que celui meige doit amender le serf <>u la serve par droit tant comme il valait au jour qu'il fut naffrc, ou tant comme l'acheta celui de qui il estait car ce est dreit et raison par l'assise. Et dcit la cort celui iticigc congecr de la Z'ilc ou it fist cele mauvaise megerie." According to this text the physician after having seen the wound, promised to cure the patient, but following a badly conducted operation which resulted in the death of the patient, the physician was declared liable for this unfortunate occurrence. The text then goes on so as to cover those cases in which a wound became gangrenous because the physician did not give the patient daily at tendance, and it declares the former liable for this accident. In the same way it holds the physician liable for any imprudence commit ted by the patient because he did not indicate in what ways the patient should care for him self. And lastly, the text speaks of damages due in case the victim was a serf. The physi cian after having promised to cure him, em ployed bail drugs and did not succeed in his object. The patient was maimed forever. The physician was obliged to take the serf for himseif and to pay to his master the sum that the serf had cost him. In case the physi cian could not pay the entire sum, he was obliged to leave the serf with his master and only pay "celui serf ou cele serve сайга de mains por ce qu'il est mahaignes par sa coulpc." When the victim was a free man, the lia bility of the phys'cian was very much greater. If it were a question of simple wounds or of bad treatment, which did not cause death, not only the physician had no right to de mand any fee, but he had his right hand cut off. In case of death of the patient the physi cian was condemned to the gallows: "Mais se il avet se mahaign fait a un crcstien au a une crcsticnne, la raison juge qu'il det perdre le poing destre et ne det plus estre
