Medical-Related Regulations in the Hong Duc Code

1. Protection of the Royal Medicine Preparation and Kitchen Areas
(Drug and Food Safety in the Royal Court)

Excerpt (Article 51 – chapter related to the royal palace):
“Anyone who enters without authorization the place where medicine is prepared or the place where the king’s food is cooked shall be exiled to a distant region.”

Interpretation:
The areas where royal medicine was prepared and royal meals were cooked were strictly protected in order to prevent poisoning. Even officials who entered these places without proper authorization could be punished. This is considered an early legal provision directly related to pharmaceutical security and food safety in the royal court.

2. Professional Responsibility of Royal Physicians
(Errors in Prescribing or Preparing Medicine for the King)

Excerpt (chapter Vi Chế*):*
“If those who prepare or dispense the royal medicines make a mistake and do not follow the prescription correctly… the physician shall be sentenced to exile.”

Interpretation:
For medicines prepared for the king, if a physician prescribed incorrectly or dispensed the wrong ingredients, he would face severe punishment, including exile. This reflects the strict standards of safety and professional responsibility in medical and pharmaceutical practice, especially at the level of the royal physician.

3. Protection of Pregnant Women
(Health and Obstetric Considerations in the Enforcement of Sentences)

Excerpt (Article 680):
“If a woman sentenced to death or a lesser punishment is pregnant, the execution of the sentence must be postponed until 100 days after childbirth.”

Interpretation:
This provision reflects a humanitarian spirit and protects the health of both mother and newborn child. Pregnant women were granted a postponement of sentence enforcement until 100 days after giving birth; if this rule was violated, prison officials would be punished. This is considered one of the earliest legal provisions concerning a woman’s right to give birth safely.

Conclusion

These legal provisions demonstrate the progressive thinking of the Le dynasty in protecting human health and emphasizing professional ethics in medicine and pharmacy. Although enacted more than 500 years ago, the Hong Duc Code still reflects humanitarian and scientific values worthy of recognition, laying an early foundation for the later development of medical ethics and healthcare governance in Vietnam.