Melbourne Law School - Research Publications

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Arguments against people "owning" their own bodies, body parts and tissue

SKENE, LOANE ( 2002)

There are a number of reasons why people should not, as a general principle, be recognised as having proprietary rights in their own body, body parts and tissue. This paper commences with some of the arguments against recognising such rights then examines in more detail the arguments that have been put forward in favour of recognising them. In relation to the latter, counter-arguments are put to each argument. The author argues that the counter-arguments outweigh the arguments. This leads to her conclusion that the law should not recognise proprietary rights in bodies, body parts or tissue in favour of the people from whom they came, though proprietary rights may arise in favour of a third person, by principles that suggested in the paper.