Apothecaries - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition apothecaries

Definition :

Apothecaries [fr. apothicaire, Fr., fr. apoqnkn, Gk.], persons who combine the giving of medical advice with the supply of medicines prepared by themselves. Their practice in England and Wales is mainly regulated by the (English) Apothecaries Act, 1815 (55 Geo. 3, c. 194) (which recites and partly repeals but otherwise confirms the charter of James the First to the Apothecaries Company), and the (English) Apothecaries Amendment Act, 1874, (37 & 38 Vict. c. 34). To 'act or practise as an apothecary' without a certificate which under the earlier Act is an offence ,indicates an habitual or continuous course of conduct, and consequently an offender is only liable to one penalty though several persons may have been attended to, Apothecaries Co. v. Jones, (1893) 1 QB 89. An apothecary, as such, may sell drugs prescribed by another as well as drugs prescribed by himself; a chemist may not prescribe but only sell drugs: a medical practitioner, as such, may only sell drugs prescribed by himself. See MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS and CHEMIST.