Biolaw: Developement of a new legal area and innovation of the law

In addition to bioethics and biopolitics, biolaw is also becoming more and more established. Among the project's initial assumptions is that the term bioethics does not simply pool various concerns but that it is a new semantical category indicating a new legal area in the face of new societal challenges. Human existence, life, and health are at the center of attention, with particular focus on management of life in the sense of targeted interventions into “natural functions.” Reproductive cloning, patents on life, genetic diagnosis, or enhancement illustrate new areas of interest and give an indication of the breadth of new questions which must be answered within the legal system. The project aims to tease out the underlying issues, characteristics, structures, and regulatory mechanisms of biolaw and to show its potential for further development in law.

Duration: since 1 April 2014
Project leader: Prof. Dr. Marion Albers
External funding sources: Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald