author

Tracy Chatfield Becker

b. 1855

A lawyer and legal writer from New York, he is best remembered for co-authoring a substantial early reference work on forensic medicine and toxicology. His writing sits at the crossroads of medicine, law, and expert evidence.

1 Audiobook

Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic medicine and Toxicology. Vol. 1

Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic medicine and Toxicology. Vol. 1

by Tracy Chatfield Becker, R. A. (Rudolph August) Witthaus

About the author

Born on February 14, 1855, Tracy Chatfield Becker was an American lawyer from Cohoes, New York. Available sources identify him as a legal professional as well as a writer, and they place his lifespan from 1855 to 1935.

Becker is chiefly associated with the multi-volume work Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, written with R. A. Witthaus and published in the 1890s. The book brought together legal and medical knowledge in a way that helped define how questions of poisoning, injury, death, and expert testimony could be handled in court.

Little else about his life is easy to confirm from the sources found here, but his surviving work suggests a writer deeply engaged with the practical meeting point of science and the law. For readers interested in the history of forensics, his books offer a window into how these fields were being organized for professionals more than a century ago.