ONCE routine, now often thought unkind, the cut may also be illegal. Parental consent might not be enough to protect the circumcisers of baby boys from later legal action.

In a rare legal analysis of the medical procedure, the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute found that criminal and civil law lacked certainty, and that circumcision might abuse the rights of a child.

No specific laws currently regulate the removal of the penile foreskin in Australia, and there are few clear answers in general law, according to an institute researcher, Warwick Marshall.

"What is clear is that the current laws were not framed with male circumcision in mind," he said in an issues paper released yesterday.

About 12 per cent of newborn boys are believed to be circumcised in Australia, down from 90 per cent in the 1950s.