There are two principal sources of current legal thinking on quarantine for contagious diseases. The first originates in the law of quarantine itself. The second concerns civil commitment adjudication. Quarantine laws are limited to controlling infectious diseases. Civil commitment laws govern incarceration when people are a danger to themselves or others, are mentally ill and unable to care for themselves, or present a danger to others because they spread infectious disease.
Before antibiotics, quarantine was important in preventing the spread of infection. Since it was not possible to attack bacterial causes of disease directly, sources of ...