Deodand 1593179 224969683 2008-07-11T06:37:07Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other :''For the fictional creature from Jack Vance's "Dying Earth", see: [[Deodand (fictional creature)|Deodand]].'' '''Deodand''' is a thing forfeited or given to God, specifically, in [[law]], an object or instrument which becomes forfeit because it has caused a person's [[death]].<ref name="eb">[Anon.] (1911)</ref> The English [[common law]] of deodands traces back to the 11th century and has been applied, on and off, until Parliament finally abolished it in 1846.<ref name= "Deodands A Study in the Creation of Common Law Rules">[Anna Pervukhin](2005)</ref> Under this law, a [[chattel]] (i.e. some personal property, such as a horse or a hay stack) was considered a deodand whenever a [[coroner's jury]] decided that it had caused the death of a human being.<ref name= "The Medieval Coroner">[R.F. Hunnisett] (1961)</ref> In theory, deodands were forfeit to the crown, which was supposed to sell the chattel and then apply the profits to some pious use.<ref name= "Institutes of the Laws of England">[[Sir Edward Coke]](1669)</ref> (The term deodand derives from the [[Latin]] phrase "deo dandum" which means "to be given to God." In reality, the juries who decided that a particular animal or object was a deodand also appraised its value and the owners were expected to pay a fine equal to the value of the deodand. If the owner could not pay the deodand, his township was held responsible.<ref name= "The Medieval Coroner">[R.F. Hunnisett] (1961)</ref> ==The history of deodands== Prior to 1066, animals and objects causing serious damage or even death were called [[banes]], and were handed over directly to the victim in a practice known as [[noxal surrender]].<ref>Finkelstein (1973)</ref> Early legislation also directed people to pay specific sums of money, called [[wergild]], as compensation for actions that resulted in someone else's death.<ref name= "The Laws of the Earliest English Kings">[Attenborough](1922)</ref> The transition from bane to deodand remains obscure. By the second half of the thirteenth century, however, the [[coroner's rolls]] are replete with references to vats, tubs, horses, carts, boats, stones, trees, etc.<ref>Pervukhin (2005)</ref> Deodands were still being forfeited throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, although not as frequently as before. Some scholars think the practice died out completely in the 18th century. Others speculated that deodands had become nominal assessment that were routinely levied.<ref>Smith (1967)</ref> Another possibility is that the practice was receiving less official attention because the profits from deodands were no longer going into royal coffers. By then, the crown had long sold off the rights to deodands from most jurisdictions to lords, townships and corporations.<ref name= "Parliamentary Debates"> ''pp'' 623-626 </ref> ==The deodand's demise== During the 1830s, the [[History of rail transport in Great Britain 1830 - 1922#The 1830s|rapid development of the railways]] led to increasing public hostility to the epidemic of railway deaths and the indifferent attitudes of the railway companies. Under the [[common law]] of England and Wales, the death of a person causes purely emotional and [[pure economic loss|economic loss]] to their relatives. In general, damages cannot be recovered for either type of damage, only for physical damage to the claimant or their property, and families of fatal accident victims had no claim. As a result, [[coroner]]'s [[juries]] started to award deodands as a way of penalising the railways.<ref name="kostal">Kostal (1994) ''pp''289-90</ref> On Christmas Eve 1841, in an accident on the [[Great Western Railway]], a [[Railway accident at Sonning Cutting|train ran into a landslip in Sonning Cutting]] and eight passengers were killed. The [[inquest]] jury assigned a deodand value of £1000 to the train. Subsequently, a [[Board of Trade]] inspector exonerated the company from blame and the deodand was quashed on [[appeal (law)|appeal]], on technicalities. This alerted legislators, in particular [[John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell|Lord Campbell]] and the [[Select Committee]] on Railway Labourers (1846).<ref name="cornish">Cornish & Clarke (1989) ''pp''503-4</ref> In the face of railway opposition, Campbell introduced a bill in 1845 to compensate victims. The bill led to the [[Fatal Accidents Act 1846]], also known as Lord Campbell's Act. Campbell also introduced a bill to abolish deodands. The latter proposal, which became law as the [[Deodands Act 1846]], to some extent mitigated railway hostility.<ref name="kostal"/> ==Deodands in the United States== In American law, the deodand has been cited as a source for the modern civil forfeiture doctrine.<ref>[[Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.]], ''[[The Common Law]]'' 24-25 (Little Brown & Co., 1949) (1881)</ref><ref>Finkelstein (1973)</ref> Some [[State constitution (United States)|U.S. state constitutions]] prohibit deodands, frequently in the same article that prohibits [[corruption of blood]].{{Fact|date=August 2007}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== *[Anon.] (1911) "[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Deodand Deodand]", ''[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]'' *{{ cite book | author=Cornish, W. & Clarke, G. | title=Law and Society in England 1750-1950 | location=London | publisher=Sweet & Maxwell | year=1989 | id=ISBN 0421311509 }} *{{ cite journal | author=Finkelstein, Jacob J. | title=The Goring Ox: some historical perspecgtives on deodands, forfeitures, wrongful death and the western notion of sovereignty | volume=46 | journal=Temp. L. Q. | year=1973 | pages=169 }} *{{ cite book | author=Kostal, R. W. | title=Law and English Railway Capitalism, 1825–1875 | year=1994 | id=ISBN 019825671X}} *{{ cite journal | author=Sutton, T. | title=The deodand and responsibility for death | year=1997 | volume=18 | journal=Journal of Legal History | pages=44 | doi=10.1080/01440369708531186 }} [[Category:Latin legal phrases]] [[Category:Christian law]] [[Category:English legal history]]