Scientific evaluation of law’s effects on public health

Abstract

Law has played an indispensable role in improving public health over the past 100 years. Laws and legal practices also have significant unintended effects on health. Just as in other realms of regulation, however, it is not enough to assert the important roles of law in public health. If law matters to public health, we have to be able to show how, under what circumstances and to what degree. We have to produce evidence. Public health law research (PHLR) is the field devoted to creating and disseminating that evidence. This chapter describes scientific theory and methods for investigating the development,