Males, medical mutilation and the law: some recent developments.

Two recent decisions of the English Court of Appeal--Re J (Specific Issue Orders: Child's Religious Upbringing and Circumcision) [2000] 1 FLR 571 and Re A (Male Sterilisation) [2000] 1 FLR 549--raise serious issues relating to controversial matters involving law and medicine and deserve wider consideration than in their jurisdiction of origin. This article discusses the practical and policy implications of these cases and places them in the appropriate context.