The present book is the fifth volume of the series Studies in the Philosophy of Law which has appeared since 2001. The previous three volumes had a monographic character, the last one being devoted to the various issues of bioethics, law and philosophy and the previous one to the topic of the economic analysis of law. Both of these were published in English. This volume is part of a research project “Biojurisprudence” pursued from 2007 through 2010 by the Department of Philosophy of Law and Legal Ethics at the Jagiellonian University and sponsored by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Within the project our team has published many articles, monographs and edited works such as the Studies in the Philosophy of Law, vol. 4: Legal Philosophy and the Challenges of Biosciences(edited by J. Stelmach, M. Soniewicka and W. Załuski, Jagiellonian University Press, 2010). One monograph, entitled Evolutionary Foundations of Law was written by Dr. Wojciech Załuski and was published in both Polish and English in 2009. We have also prepared a joint monograph entitled Paradoxes of Legal Bioethics and which is forthcoming this year.

The present volume also has a monographic character and consists of two parts and an appendix. The first part, entitled Legal Implications of Medical Advances, consists of four chapters that address the ethical and legal issues of the integration of new genetic technologies into medicine.