Felo de se

1. A felon (g. v.) of himself. He that deliberately puts an end to his own existence, or commits any unlawful malicious act, the consequence of which is 1 Trist V. Child, 81 Wall. 450 (1874). 2 Goodyear v. Sawyer, 17 F. R. 3 (1883): R. S. §§ 823, 824, 983. See generally Coy v. Jerkins, 13 F. R; 111, 113-16 (1882), cases; Re Rand, 18 id. 99 (1883).- 3 Williams v. Mon-ison, 33 F. R. 682 (1887), Thayer, J. < Central Trust Co. v. Wabash, &c. R. Co., 33 F. R. his own death; a self-murderer.i See further Suicide. 2. A destroyer of itself; a thing that defeats its own purpose. In this category are: a construction of a proclamation," or instrument," in effect nugatory of the purpo83 thereof; a bill for peace which makes litigation;* a decree which, instead of removing a cloud from a title, places another upon it; unauthorized action by a court. ^

Lat. [L. Fr. felon de luy mesme.] A felon of himself; a self murderer. One who deliberately puts an end to his own existence, or commits any unlawful malicious act, the consequence of which is his own death; as if, attempting to kill another, he runs upon his antagonist's sword, or shooting at another, the gun bursts, and kills himself. Hawk. P. C. b. 1, ch. 27. 1 Hal. P. C. 413. The party must be of years of discretion, and in his senses, else it is no crime. 4 Bl. Com. 189. 4 Steph. Com. 109. Suicide (in the sense of intentional self-destruction,) has always been regarded as a crime in English law, punished with forfeiture of goods and chattels, and, until recently, branded by an ignominious burial in the highway, with a stake driven through the body. 4 Chitty's Bl. Com. 190. By the act of 4 Geo. IV. c. 52, § 1, this barbarous kind of burial was abolished, and the bodies of suicides were directed to be interred in church yards, or other ordinary burial grounds, but under marked circumstances indicative of the law's abhorrence of the crime; the interment being ordered to take place at night, and without the performance of any christian rites. Id. ibid. note. Suicide does not seem to be regarded as a crime in the United States.

criminal law, a ceased must have had the will and intention of committing it, else he committed no crime. As he is beyond the reach of human laws, he cannot be punished; the English law, indeed attempts to inflict a punishment by a barbarous burial of his body, and by forfeiting. to the king ‘the property which he owned, and which would belong to his relations. Hawk. P. C. c. 9; 4 BI. Com. 189.