The value of life in English law: revered but not sacred?

Heywood, Rob and Mullock, Alexandra (2016) The value of life in English law: revered but not sacred? Legal Studies, 36 (4). 658–682. ISSN 1748-121X

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Abstract

Terms such as sanctity and inviolability have failed to provide a legally coherent or ethically sound principle upon which to determine the scope of the intrinsic value of life against extrinsic, quality-of-life considerations in a medical context. In their recent work, Margaret Brazier and Suzanne Ost introduce a new term, reverence for life, which they suggest may be more appropriate when attempting to navigate the murky waters of the meaning of life and the value that should be attached to it. They suggest that reverence should be utilised as an alternative that better reflects the nuances and the realities of the dilemma. This paper explores the existing difficulties before considering how the principle of reverence might provide a principled compromise over when the presumption in favour of preserving life should be rebutted.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2016 The Authors Legal Studies: The Journal of the Society of Legal Scholars published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Legal Scholars. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Company and Commercial Law (former - to 2017)
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2016 10:06
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 01:17
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/58021
DOI:	10.1111/lest.12131

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