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Body Parts and Body Products: A Continuing Legal Debate

Publication at Faculty of Law |
2020

Abstract

The paper focuses on the topic of a human body, its parts, and its products from a legal perspective. Given that there is no unified, universally applicable approach, the paper explains the two main feasible methods for protection of these valuable assets, either by means of personality rights or via property rights.

An important remark is that the choice of one or another approach does not preclude the safeguarding of human dignity by suitable legal measures. It is also necessary to distinguish the issue of status of such assets from the question of allocation of relevant rights.

The paper offers a basic classification of body parts and products, mentioning specifically also artificial parts. It then presents the approach of Czech law to this topic, and places it within the context of a continuing international legal debate.