Public Health Law Basics

Public health law is about the government’s power to protect and preserve the health of the community and the tensions between that power and individual rights to autonomy, privacy, liberty, property and other legally protected interests.  It is about social justice and ensuring that the state’s legal public health powers and duties are balanced with respect for private rights.  Because of these tensions and the need for this balance, public health law is a dynamic, evolving and often controversial field.