Erschienen in:
01.10.2014 | Medicolegal Sidebar
Medicolegal Sidebar: The Law and Social Values: Loss of Chance
verfasst von:
B. Sonny Bal, MD, JD, MBA, Lawrence H. Brenner, JD
Erschienen in:
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®
|
Ausgabe 10/2014
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Excerpt
Laws can appear to be arbitrary and rigid, but legal rules can also reflect complex social values that change and evolve through time [
3]. As an example, in 1986 the US Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a law that criminalized homosexual conduct [
1]. Twenty years later, the court reversed, holding that the Constitution bars legislation criminalizing consensual sexual relations between adults [
10]. Nineteen US states now legalize gay marriage, whereas 31 states have prohibitions against it [
12]. The Constitution did not change between these decisions; instead, society became more tolerant of homosexual relationships. The Court’s conflicting decisions reflected this evolution in social values. …