Literature has had a long relationship with medicine through literary images of disease, literary images of physicians and other healers, works of literature by physician-writers, and the use of literature as a method of active or passive healing. Literature also has had a long relationship with the law through literary images of various legal processes, lawyers, and judges; works of literature by lawyer-writers; and the use of literature as therapy. This Part examines the development of the fields of 'literature and medicine' and 'law and literature' and places current coursework in law, literature, and medicine in its proper historical and pedagogical context.