.CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. The law takes cognizance of contagious and infectious dis eases as they menace the public health, for the protection of which health and quo routine laws are enacted under the broad authority of the police power of the State. (See POLICE POWER.) For purposes of administration, this power may be delegated to municipal corpora tions or like political subdivisions.
While the right to take summary measures for the public safety is one of the most ancient of government prescriptions and is rarely chal lenged, yet it is none the less formidable, invol• ing as it does the power of the State forcibly to confine those suffering from infectious diseases, el en where properly cared for by friends or relatives. and other like interference with the personal right: of liberty and property. Mari time quarantine was early practiced by the com mercial nations. and was enforced by the Vene tians in the fifteenth century; but municipal health regulation is of somewhat later develop ment, and the two are still usually separated in administration. Thus, for instance, the Board of Health of the City of New York exercises jurisdiction within the city proper and upon the waters of the bay to the limits of quarantine, which, with its shipping, is under the authority of the Board of Quarantine Commissioners and the health officer of the port. In the United States the enactment of quarantine laws is held to be among the powers preserved to the States under the Constitution. Under their authority, however, State boards of health are created and general statutes passed delegating the power to local boards in cities, towns, and villages. In the larger cities this power is usually conferred separately by provision in their elmrter or act of incorporation. The public health laws of the several States are similar in character, and may be consulted for details. Violations of the sanitary code are usually made misdemeanors. and pun ished by imprisonment or fines. For the purpose of avoiding any questions that might arise from the possible interference of local regulations of the public health with the Federal 'prerogative of regulating interstate commerce, Congress early passed acts adopting such State laws and re quiring their observance by Federal officials (act of February 25, 1799: act of April 29, 1878 [20 Stat. L. 37]). In 1879 a National Board of Health was created, but its powers were little more than advisory, and by the act of Congress, February 25, 1893 (27 Stat. L. 449), it was abolished and its powers and duties transferred to the Marine Hospital Service, which, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, performs the functions of national quarantine.
Questions pertaining to the people at large aris ing from immigration and importation belong to Federal jurisdiction as incidental to the consti tutional right of regulating commerce. Thus conditions of entry are imposed, such as deten tion, inspection, and disinfection, and under the act of 1803 protective restrictions may even be laid upon interstate intercourse where a danger is threatened and State authority is wanting or lax. The Federal quarantine may arrest the entrance of forbidden persons or things; but once past the 'Barge 011iee' or custom-house, the local authorities take jurisdiction. Naval ves sels as well as commercial are bound to observe quarantine rules.
In Great Britain a similar system of sanitary protection prevails. In England, the controlling statute, the Public Health Act (38 and 39 Vict. c. 55 [1875]), is comprehensive in its provisions and regulations, though it does not extend to Scotland or Ireland. or, except as to special pro visions, to the city of London. The Infectious Disease (Notification) Act (52 and 53 Viet. c. 72) and the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act (53 and 54 Vict. c. 34), as the titles signify, pro vide respectively for the course to he pursued in notifying the proper authorities in eases of defined contagious illness, and the regulations to be adopted in the way of inspection and dis infection to prevent infection. The first applies to the United Kingdom. and may be adopted by urban and rural authorities of ports and local districts; the second is confined to England.
In its international aspect, the obligation rest inc. upon a State to adopt proper regulations to prevent the spread of epidemics belongs to the so-called natural duties, rather than the more delined and absolute principles of international jurisprudence. BM with the increase of inter national intercourse and the development of a more sensitive national conscience, a demand has arisen among civilized nations for the recog nition of the right to such protection by another State, as well as the long-established one of sur rounding itself by defensive barriers. The Unit ed States has taken the lead in a commercial way by vigilant inspection of meats and like food exports. In 1S79 Sir Shenstone Baker prepared a Code of tnternational Quarantine, which was approved by the United States. See QUARAN TINE; and consult the authorities referred to there and under PoLicE POWER.