[The legal risk in obstetrics in XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries].

The implication of obstetricians in case of an unfavourable parturition ending is not a particularism nor an innovation of our present times, as modern practitioners may believe. In fact, implications in court cases and public contests are as old as the practice of midwifery itself. So it sounds interesting to present to modern obstetricians the atmosphere around contentious matters in midwifery practice along the xviith and xviiith centuries, in France, which was at thoses times the preeminent country in Europe in medecine and midwifery domains. This historic review will allow, by the way, a quick reminding of the knowledge of those times.