The first chapter outlines the early legislative responses to AIDS at both the State and Federal levels. Persons with AIDS and their friends and families should be aware of their rights and obligations in the areas of access to justice, public benefits, confidentiality, consumer fraud, criminal law, and education. Other topics discussed here include employment, family law, free speech, housing, immigration, and insurance. Specific cases are presented in which the law has dealt with AIDS in the context of the military, prisons, public accommodations and professional regulation, quarantine, and testing. Two further areas in which the law of AIDS is developing are torts and will. A separate chapter describes the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which provides uniform, enforceable anti-discrimination protection and specifically includes people with HIV disease. The final chapter consists of a detailed discussion of the right of medical service providers to know whether their patients are infected with HIV and vice versa. Chapter references