Biolaw: an autonomous discipline?

Abstract

The impressive development of biotechnology, especially in the last two decades, has allowed and even required the revision of classic law institutes. The need to study various legal issues arising from technological advances related to medicine and biotechnology, with special reference to the body and human dignity, gave
rise to what came to be known as Biolaw. The debate proposed in this paper, based on the literature review, is to analyze if Biolaw can be treated as a new and autonomous branch of law, as a mediator of new conflicts; or if it suffices for the legal system to recognize emerging social relations in light of its traditional branches and deal with them based on purely ethical and legal requirements.