Deodand

Any personal chattel whatever which is the immediate cause of the death of a human creature, which is forfeited to the king, to be distributed in alms by his high almoner. 1 Bl. Comm. 301; 1 Hale, P. C. 422.

(Li. Lat Deo dandum, a thing to be given to God.)

In English law. Any personal chattel which was the immediate occasion of the dcath of any reasen-able creature, and which was forfeited to the crown to be applied to pious uses, and distributed in alms by the high almoner. 1 Hale, P. C. 419; Fleta, lib. 1, c. 25; 1 Bl. Comm. 300 ; 2 Steph. Comm. 365.

In English law. Any personal mate, which was the immediate occasion sonable creature, and which was applied to pious uses, and distributed Abolished by statute 9 & 10 Vict., c. 63.

(L. Lat. Deo dandum, a thing to be given to God.} In English law. Any personal chattel which was the immediate occasion of the death of any reasonable erenture,and which was forfeited tothe crown to be applied to pious uses, and distributed inalms by the high almoner. 1 Hale, P. C. 419; Fleta, lib. 1, c. 25; 1 Bl. Comm. 800; 2 Steph. Comm. 35.

6 Any personal chattel which was the immediate cause of the death of a rational creature.^ The chattel, whether an animal or inanimate object, was forfeited to the king, to be applied to religious uses. Designed, originally, as an expiation for the souls of such persons as were snatched away by sudden death. If any animal killed a person, or if a cart ran over him, it was to be forfeited,— in part, also, as punishment for the supposed negligence in the owner. If the thing was in motion, as, a cart with its loading, all that moved was forfeited; if not in motion, then only the part which was the immediate cause of the death. It mattered not whether the owner was concerned in the killing or not. The right to deodands, in time, was granted to the lords of manors as a franchise.^ Abolished by 9 and 10 Vict. (1846) c. 63.

Any personal the immediate occasion it was formerly forfeited uses by the high from which a man fell,

[L. Lat, JDeodandum; a thing to be given to Ood.] In English law. Any personal chattel which was the immediate occasion of the death of any reasonable creature, and which was forfeited to the crown to be applied to pious uses, and distributed in alms by the high almoner. 1 Hal P. C. 419. Fleta, lib. 1, c. 26. Bract, fol. 122. 1 BL Com, 300. 2 Steph. Com, 865. 3 Ad, dt EU, N. S. 333. 8 Id, 587. Deodands included both animate and inanimate objects; thus, if a horse or other animal killed a person, or a cart ran over him, the horse or cart was forfeited as a deodand. So the instrument with which a person was killed, as a sword or knife, was forfeited in the same manner. 1 Bl, Com, 301, 302. Deodands are unknown in American law, and have very recently been abolished in England by statute 9 & 10 Vict. c. 62. Oliphant on Horses, Appendix. From the phraseology of the rule in the old books, expressed by the verse. Omnia que movent ad mortem sunt Deo danda, ^all things which move to death are deooiands. Dyer, 11 b.) some have been led to confine the proper meaning of deodand to such things as caused death by their motion^ or by being put in motion. Thus Spelman defines them to be all things, whether brute animals or inanimate objects, by a stroke from which the life of a man is unduly taken away, {quorum impetu vita Iiominis indebite tollitur;) as by the kick of a horse, the goring of an ox, the falling of a beam, the motion of a carriage. But movere ad mortem may also be translated " to tend or lead to death," " to occasion, or contribute to produce death"; a sense which Spelman also alludes to. Accordingly the rule always was that where death was occasioned by a fall from an object at rest, the latter was forfeited as a deodand. Britt, c. 1, 7. 1 Hal. P. C. 422. Much importance, however, seems to have been from an early period attached to the circumstance of the object being in mx>tion, which led to some distinctions in the later law on this subject.

English law. This word is derived from Deo dandum, to be given to God; and is meant to designate any unhappy instrument, whether it be an animal or inanimate thing which has caused the death of a man or mischance without the will or fault of himself or of any other man. 3 Inst. 57; Hawk. bk. 1, c. 8. The deodand is forfeited to ‘the king and was formerly applied to pious uses. DEPARTMENT OF THE