Self-Ownership, Property Rights, and the Human Body

Muireann Quigley is Professor of Law, Medicine, and Technology at the University of Birmingham. Before moving to academia she was a medical doctor. Her research is explicitly interdisciplinary and focuses on the philosophical analysis of law and policy. She is particularly interested in biotechnological advances and innovations, and how these can and ought to be dealt with by society. She has previously held a number of research grants, including from the Wellcome Trust and the Leverhulme Trust. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Medical Law International. In 2012 she won the Mark S. Ehrenreich Prize in Healthcare Ethics Research.

• 1. Bodies of value; Part I. Human Tissues and the Law: 2. Regulating the uses of biomaterials: consent and authorisation; 3. Property in the body?; 4. A property (r)evolution?; Part II. Property and Persons: 5. What is property? I: bundles and things; 6. What is property? II: rights and interests; 7. The scope and bounds of self-ownership; Part III. Beyond Self-Ownership: 8. Property rights in biomaterials; 9. Transferring bodily property; 10. The future of human biomaterials?

'In sum, Quigley's book is a feat of thorough and innovative legal and philosophical argument on a highly topical issue. It is dense and technical without being tedious. Reading it is an immensely rewarding endeavour.' Barbara Prainsack, Medical Law Review