(298 Sy 
[May 
An Woe POO. Rais 
CasE oF THE. LICENTIATES AND 
THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 
N the 23d of April, 1796, theimpor- 
tant caufe of the Licentiates againft 
the Fellows of the College of Phyficians, 
which has been fo long and repeatedly 
agitated, and which involves the rights 
cf every phyfician in Great Britain and 
ireland, was again brought toa hearing, 
in the Court of King’s Bench. ; 
A rule had been obtained, upon the ap- 
plication of Doétor Stanger (who was ap- 
pointed to ftand forward, by the Licen- 
tiates engaged in this conteft) for the 
College of Phyficians to fhow caufe, why 
a m=ndamus fhould not iffue, commanding 
the College to admit him to examination 
for admiifion into the order of candidates 
for election into the Society or Fellow- 
fhip of the College; the fituation of a 
candidate is a probationary ftate, of a 
year's duration, previous to eleétion into 
the fellowfhip +; which the T.icentiates al- 
low to be a reafonable regulation. 
‘The examinations of a candidate dif- 
fer fromthofe of a Licentiate: the can- 
didate being required to tranflate and ex- 
plain paflages out of Hippocrates, Galen, 
or Aretzus, in addition to the examina- 
tions which the Licentiate undergces on 
the various branches of fcience conne‘ted 
with medicine, in the Latin language. 
But to this additional teft, though only 
adopted within a few years, and, as the 
Licentiates affert, merely to afford a co- 
Jourable appearance of diftinétion between 
the two claifes, they by no means cbjeét, 
nor to any other ftandard of literature the 
college may adopt. The object on the 
part of the Licentiates in this caufe, is 
to eftablifh, that every phyfician, poffeff- 
ing the rights of a Britith fubjedt, of un- 
impeached morals, who can give tefiimo- 
pials cf having ftudied and graduated at 
a reputable fchool of phyfic, after previous 
examinations, has aright to have his qua- 
jifications of learning and fkill examined ; 
and that if found competent in thefe, the 
only réquifites pomted out by the char- 
ter and act of parliament, he has a right 
to be admitted into the corporation. 
‘The Fellows~contend, that they have 
aright to make bye-laws, confining ad- 
miifion into the college to’ the’ graduates 
of Oxfordand Cambridge; and that the 
Licentiates have no juft ground of ‘com- 
plaint, as they may be admitted under 
14. 
two bye-laws made exprefsly in their fa- 
your. 
The one of thefe ftates, ‘‘ thata Licentiate 
of {even years {tanding, who has completed 
his thirty-fixth year, may be propofed by 
a Fellow, on one particular day of the 
year, to be examined ; and if approved by 
a majority of the members prefent, that_ 
he may be examined at the three fub- 
fequent greater affemblies, or comitia ma- 
jora of the college ; and if approved bya 
majority at each, he may be propofed at 
the next comitia majora to he admitted a 
member ; and if then likewife approved 
by a majority of thofe prefent, he may be. 
admitted into the college, provided 
neither any law of the land, nor any fta- 
tute of the college, render him ineligi- 
ble.” . 
The other bye-law ftates, “that the pre- 
fident may, once in two years, and not of- 
tener, propofe a Licentiate (who has been 
ten years of that clafs, and previoufly ap- 
proved by a majority at the preceding 
comitia minora, or lets affembly) for ad- 
milficn into the fellowfhip, at the comt- 
tia majora, or greater affembly, on one par- 
ticular day of the year ; and that if he 
be then approved by a majority, he may 
be admitted into the community.” 
The refpeétability of the parties, and 
the importance of the fubjéét, to a nume- 
rous and learned profeflion, will induce 
us to give a concife view of the cRarter, 
and act of parliament confirming it. We 
fhall alfo give a general ftatement of the 
principal arguments on both fides, as well 
as of the proceedings in the Court of 
King’s Bench. tixteteae 
y an act of Henry VIII, ann. 1511,- 
the firft ever pafled for regulating the 
practice of phyfic, after ferting forth the 
evils arifing from unikilful and illiterate 
practitioners, it was enacted, “that no per- 
fon fhould be allowed to praétife in Lon- 
don, or within feven miles round, unlefs 
firft examined and admitted by the Bithop 
‘of London, or Dean of St. Pauls, calling 
to his aiiifiance four doétors of phyfic, 
forthe firfttime, fuch as they fhould deem 
convenient, and afterwards always four 
of them that had been fo approved.” The 
Liceutiates obferve, that this aét intitles 
thofe approved under it, not only te prac- 
tife, but to examine others, without dif- 
tin€tion of fchools: Seven years after 
this act, the prefent College of Phyficians | 
| 4 
was 
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