THE PLACE OF MEDICAL LAW IN THE SYSTEM OF LAW OF UKRAINE: A GENERAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article analyses the formation and development of the medical branch of law in Ukraine. It is established that modern challenges and new areas of social relations are constantly making adjustments to the system of law and the system of legislation of Ukraine in general, and medical law in particular. The prerequisites for the emergence of legal relations in the field of medicine, as well as the concept of medical law as a branch of law, as a branch of legislation as a science and as an academic discipline are studied. The author establishes that the issue of the place of medical law in the system of national law is controversial. In historical retrospect, medical law was mostly considered as a sub-branch of civil law or social security law. The article deals with the scientific theories of modern Ukrainian lawyers regarding the place of medical law in the system of law of Ukraine at the current stage of development of science. As a result, the author distinguishes three most likely theses concerning the place of medical law in the system of law. Some authors consider medical law only as a branch of legislation, others consider it a sub-branch of the basic branch of law, and finally, others consider it an independent comprehensive branch of law. Having analysed the subject matter and method of legal regulation, principles, content and structure of medical law, as well as the specifics of social relations in the field of medicine, it is proved that medical law is an independent comprehensive branch of law which has a specific subject matter of legal regulation, and which arose on the boundary of the relevant branches of law, and which ensures the regulation of legal relations in the implementation of medical activities.