Daniel Sinclair

Prof. Daniel Sinclair LL.B. (University of London), LL.M. (Monash University), Ph.D. (Hebrew University), Rabbinical Ordination (Jerusalem) is Emeritus Professor of Jewish and Comparative Biomedical Law, CMAS Law School, Israel; Fellow, Institute on Religion, Law and Lawyer’s Work and Visiting Professor of Law, Fordham University Law School, New York; Adjunct Professor of Public Health Law and Medical Ethics, Tel-Aviv University Medical School and Adjunct Professor of Jewish Law, Sir Zelman Cowen Center, Victoria University, Melbourne. Prof. Sinclair has published over sixty articles and several books in the fields of Jewish Law and Ethics, the influence of Jewish Law on the legal system of the State of Israel; Comparative Biomedical Law and the relationship between law and morality. His previous positions include Research Fellow at the Institute for Jewish Law, Faculty of Law, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Fellow and Tutor in Jurisprudence, Faculty of Law, Edinburgh University; Rabbi of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation and Dean of Jews’ College, University of London. During his period in the United Kingdom, Prof. Sinclair served as a member of the Ethics Committee of the Royal College of Physicians and held the portfolio for Medical Ethics in the Chief Rabbi’s Cabinet. In that capacity, he testified before the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons on issues relating to human genetics. He has also been a member of an Advisory Group to the European Union on the ethics of science with a particular focus on cloning and clinical trials. His current areas of research are the role of religious law in democratic societies and the influence of morality on the law.

Representative Publications

Books

1. Tradition and the Biological Revolution (Edinburgh University Press, 1989). 
2. Jewish Biomedical Law: Legal and Extra-legal Dimensions (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Edited Volumes

1. Jewish Law Annual, 10 (1992) – Parent and Child Symposium
2. Joint Editor, Israel Law Review, 27 (1993) – Bioethics and the Law – Organ Transplants Symposium. 
3. Law, Judicial Policy and Jewish Identity in the State of Israel (Jewish Law Association Studies 11, State University of New York, Binghamton, 2000).
4. Jewish Biomedical Law (Jewish Law Association Studies 15, State University of New York, Binghamton, 2005).
5. The Fordham Conference Volume (Jewish Law Association Studies 23, Jewish Law Association, 2012).

Articles in Books

1. “Jewish Law in the State of Israel” in An Introduction to the History and Sources of Jewish Law (ed. N. Hecht, B. Jackson, S. Passamaneck, D Piatelli & A. Rabello, Oxford University Press, 1996), 397.
2. 20 Entries on Family Law, Medical Law and the Theory of Jewish Law, The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion (ed. R.J.Z. Werblowski and G. Wigoder, Oxford University Press, 1997).
3. “Halacha and Law” (with B. Jackson, B. Lifshitz and A. Gray), Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies (ed. M. Goodman, J. Cohen and D. Sorkin, Oxford, 2002), 643.
4. “Bioethics: The End of Life” in the Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality (eds. E. Dorff and J. Crane, Oxford University Press, 2013) 330.
5. “The Practice of Medicine in Jewish Law", Enzyklopaedie juedischer Geschichte und Kultur (2013).
6. “Israel, State of", Oxford Encyclopedia of Bible and Law (ed. B. Strawn, Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

Articles

1. “The Legal Basis for the Prohibition on Abortion in Jewish Law", Israel Law Review 15 (1980) 109.
2. “Trends in Rabbinic Policy in Relation to Insincere Conversions in Post-Emancipation Responsa”, Dine Israel 15 (1991-1992) 47.
3. “Kidney Donations from the Legally Incompetent in Jewish and Comparative Law”, Israel Law Review 27 (1993) 588.
4. “The Terminal Patient in Jewish Law with Comparative Reference to English, American and Israel Law" Tel Aviv University Studies in Law 12 (1994) 283.
5. “Medical Experiments on Human Beings in Jewish and Israeli Law", Israeli Reports to the 15th International Congress of Comparative Law (ed. A.M. Rabello, Sacher Institute for Legislative Research, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1999), 129.
6. “When One Life Overrides Another: Separating Siamese Twins in English and Jewish Law”, Eshkolot: Essays in Memory of Rabbi Ronald Lubofsky (Melbourne, 2002) 318.
7. “Assisted Reproduction in Jewish Law”, Fordham Urban Law Journal 30 (2002) 71.
8. “Advocacy and Compassion in the Jewish Tradition”, Fordham Urban Law Journal 31 (2003) 9.
9. "Dealing with Death in the Jewish Legal Tradition", Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 6 (2009) 297.
10. "Feticide, Cannibalism, Nudity and Extra-Legal Sanctions: Elements of Natural law in Three 19th-20th Century Halakhists", Jewish Law Association Studies 20 (2010) 262.
11. "Normative Transparency in Jewish Law: Maimonides, R. Moses Sofer and R. Kook", Jewish Law Annual 19 (2011) 119.
12. "Fictitious Retractions and False Attributions: The Balance between Truth and Falsehood in Halakhic Discourse”, Jewish Law Association Studies 22 (2012) 283.
13. "Patient Autonomy in the Dying Process and Brain Death: Jewish law and its Role in Recent Israeli Biomedical Legislation", Hamline Law Review 35 (2012) 591.
14. “Maimonides’ Rational and Empirical Epistemology and its Influence on Bio-Medical Halakhah” in Moses Maimonides and his Practice of Medicine (eds. S. Kottek and K. Collins, Maimonides Research Institute, Haifa-New York, 2013) 135.
15. "Lo statuto giuridico delle persone nel diritto ebraico ", Daimon (2014) 32.
16. "Kiddush Hashem (Sanctification of the Divine Name) and Some Aspects of the Halakhic Turn to Non-Jewish Standards in Ritual law and Morality in the Modern Period", Jewish Law Association Studies 25 (2014) 328.
17. "The Impact of Erroneous Scientific Beliefs on Jewish Law", (forthcoming in Jewish Law Association Studies (2019)).