Rose v Royal College of Physicians

Rose v Royal College of Physicians
Arms of the Society of Apothecaries (left) and the Royal College of Physicians (right)
Court	Court of Queen’s Bench
Full case name	'Rose v Royal College of Physicians [1703]
Decided	15 March 1703
Case history
Prior action	Prosecution of William Rose 1701–1703
Appealed from	Society of Apothecaries
Appealed to	House of Lords
Subsequent action	Gave apothecaries the right to prescribe
Related action	The Society of Apothecaries appealed to the House of Lords who subsequently reversed the verdict.
Court membership
Judge sitting	Sir John Holt
Case opinions
All judges gave opinions upholding the defendant's right to prescribe and practise Physick.
Decision by	House of Lords

Rose v Royal College of Physicians, also known as The Rose Case, was a 1703 (also reported as 1704^[a]) British landmark court case between the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and William Rose, a Liveryman of the Society of Apothecaries. Rose had treated a John Seale, who complained about his treatment to the RCP, who brought a successful court action against Rose in 1703. The Society of Apothecaries and Rose successfully appealed against this judgement. However, this did not change medical practice but merely legitimised what apothecaries were doing already and confirmed the "status quo". It did, nevertheless, symbolize the decline in the College's growing legal monopoly over who practises medicine. The case was ultimately seen as not one between a College and one individual, but one between one powerful College against one powerful Society.

Following a two-year debate on the definition of "physick", evidence supplied by butcher John Seale and the RCP was used in court to successfully prosecute Rose for practising 'physick' and administering medicines. However, fearing that the suit would lead to an infringement of their privileges as a whole profession, and in support of Rose, the Society of Apothecaries applied for a writ of error and the House of Lords swiftly reversed the judgement.

Apothecaries were the lowest category of doctor, originating from general shopkeepers, gaining a separate identity from 1617 and establishing a right to treat the sick during the Plague of 1665, when many physicians and their rich patients fled London. The House of Lords judgment upheld this right, and the decision established the legal recognition of apothecaries as doctors.
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