Author: E. Claire Cage, Department of History, University of South Alabama - Academia.edu

Contents:

	List of Figures (p. viii)
	Acknowledgments (p. ix)
	Introduction (p. 1)
	1 - The Science of Death (p. 12)
		Diagnosing Death (p. 14)
		Autopsies and the Afterlives of Corpses (p. 23)
		Forensics on Trial (p. 34)
	2 - Poisoning and the Problem of Proof (p. 45)
		The Rise of Forensic Toxicology (p. 47)
		Poison in the Time of Cholera (p. 56)
		The Chemistry of Crime (p. 68)
	3 - Deception and Detection (p. 79)
		Malingering and Military Service (p. 81)
		The Art of Faking It (p. 89)
		Medical Ethics and Proving Malingering (p. 99)
	4 - Reproductive Bodies and Crimes (p. 110)
		The Female Reproductive Body and the Male Medical Expert (p. 112)
		The Forensics of Infanticide (p. 121)
		Medical Expertise and Mothers on Trial (p. 131)
	5 - The Forensics of Sexual Crimes against Children (p. 142)
		Morality, Medicine, and the Limits of Legal Protection (p. 144)
		Sexual Offenders and the Signs of Assault (p. 154)
		Fear of False Accusations in the Fin de Siècle (p. 162)
	Conclusion and Epilogue (p. 171)
	Notes (p. 179)
	Bibliography (p. 223)
		Manuscript and Archival Sources (p. 223)
		Printed Primary Sources (p. 223)
		Secondary Sources (p. 243)
	Index (p. 256)

Description: »The Science of Proof traces the rise of forensic medicine in late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France and examines its implications for our understanding of expert authority. Tying real life cases to broader debates, the book analyzes how new forms of medical and scientific knowledge, many of which were pioneered in France, were contested, but ultimately accepted, and applied to legal problems and the administration of justice. The growing authority of medical experts in the French legal arena was nonetheless subject to sharp criticism and scepticism. The professional development of medicolegal expertise and its influence in criminal courts sparked debates about the extent to which it could reveal truth, furnish legal proof, and serve justice. Drawing on a wide base of archival and printed sources, Claire Cage reveals tensions between uncertainty about the reliability of forensic evidence and a new confidence in the power of scientific inquiry to establish guilt, innocence, and legal responsibility.« (Source: Cambridge University Press)

Reviews:
- Freundschuh, Aaron. Social History of Medicine (January 25, 2025). - Full Text: Oxford Academic (Restricted Access)

- Long, Brandon. Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 13(1) (Spring 2023): 199-202. - Full Text: University of Chicago Press (Restricted Access)

- Ruberg, Willemijn. Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society 114(3) (September 2023): 666–668. - Full Text: Cambridge Core (Restricted Access)

- Sharafi, Mitra. Law and History Review 41(4) (November 2023): 666–668. - Full Text: University of Chicago Press (Restricted Access), Digital Repository of the University of Wisconsin Law School (Free Access)

- Wolfram, Heather. European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health 81(2) (December 2024): 450-452. - Full Text: Brill (Restricted Access)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of France / France in the long nineteenth century | Medicine: Forensic medicine | Sex and the law: Child sexual abuse / Child sexual abuse in France