The ethical-juridical concepts related to the civil responsibility of medical activity in liberal practice are brought up to date. To this end, the arguments which guide the shaping up of the contractual relationship between the physician and the client are analysed, as also are the foundations on which the notion of guilt - an essential component of civil responsibility, whether relating to technical acts of to those within the field of medical humanism - are grounded. The answers presented for the solution of this question by European juridical systems are given.
Jurisprudence; Ethics, medical; Private practice