Felo De Se
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''Felo de se'' (from
Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...
''fel'' 'l'''ō dē sē'', "felon of him-/herself") was a concept applied against the
personal estate Personal property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law (legal system), civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—a ...
s (assets) of adults who ended their own lives. Early English
common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...
, among others, by this concept considered suicide a crime—a person found guilty of it, though dead, would ordinarily see penalties including forfeiture of property to the monarch and a shameful burial. Beginning in the seventeenth century
precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...
and
coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
s' custom gradually deemed suicide temporary insanity—court-pronounced conviction and penalty to heirs were gradually phased out.


Detailed evolution

Until the end of the widespread phasing out mentioned below, in English common law suicides were
felons A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...
. The crime was punishable by forfeiture (great loss of property) to the monarch and what was considered a shameful burial – typically with a stake through the heart and at a
crossroads Crossroads is a junction where four roads meet. Crossroads, crossroad, cross road(s) or similar may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a ...
. Burials for ''felones de se'' typically took place at night, with no
mourner A mourner is someone who is attending a funeral or who is otherwise recognized as in a period of grief and mourning prescribed either by religious law or by popular custom. Many cultures expect mourners to curtail certain activities, usually tho ...
s nor
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
; the place was often kept secret by justices of the peace, coroners and local
undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker or mortician (American English), is a professional who has licenses in funeral arranging and embalming (or preparation of the deceased) involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks o ...
s. A child or
lunatic ''Lunatic'' is a term referring to a person who is seen as Mental disorder, mentally ill, Risk, dangerous, Foolishness, foolish, or crazy—conditions once attributed to "lunacy". The word derives from ''lunaticus'' meaning "of the moon" or "moo ...
(a term which included the demonstrably mentally disabled) who killed themself was excepted from this ''post mortem'' offence, which resembled
attainder In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...
. Burial at the place mentioned persisted until the Burial of Suicides Act 1823 abolished it. By this, the remains should be buried in a churchyard (with minister attending), or other authorised place. This was broadened by the
Interments (felo de se) Act 1882 The Interments (felo de se) Act 1882 ( 45 & 46 Vict. c. 19) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed a person whose death was ''felo de se'' (criminal suicide) to be buried in a churchyard at any hour, and with the usual ...
. Vestiges of the old practice persisted into the middle of the century. A news report in 1866 as to the case of Eli Sykes, a prisoner awaiting the death sentence at Armley gaol in Leeds, read the inquest jury returned a verdict of ''felo de se'' and "in consequence of that verdict the body would be buried at midnight, without any religious ceremony, within the precincts of the gaol". By the
Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880 The Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880 ( 43 & 44 Vict. c. 41) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is one of the Burial Acts 1852 to 1885. This Act is excluded bsection 4of the Welsh Church (Burial Grounds) Act 1945. For the con ...
funeral rites were defaulted to a "Christian and orderly religious service", substituting that taken from the Book of Common Prayer if required (i.e. if the deceased was known to be of other religion).


Phasing out

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England, as suicides came to be seen more and more as an act of temporary insanity, many coroner's juries began declaring more suicide victims as ''
non compos mentis ''Non compos mentis'' is a Latin legal phrase that translates to "of unsound mind": ''nōn'' ("not") prefaces ''compos mentis'', meaning "having control of one's mind." This phrase was used in English law as early as the seventeenth century to de ...
'' instead. As such the perpetrator's property was not forfeit (given to
the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
).Sleepless Souls: Suicide in Early Modern England by Michael MacDonald and Terence R. Murphy (1990). Chapter 4. MacDonald and Murphy write that "By the 1710s and 1720s, over 90 per cent of all suicides were judged insane, and after a period of more rigorous enforcement of the law, ''non compos mentis'' became in the last three decades of the century the only suicide verdict that Norwich Coroners returned. ... ''Non compos mentis'' had become the usual verdict in cases of suicide by the last third of the century."


Repeal


England and Wales

In
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...
, the offence of ''felo de se'' was abolished by section 1 of the
Suicide Act 1961 The Suicide Act 1961 ( 9 & 10 Eliz. 2. c. 60) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It decriminalised the act of suicide in England and Wales so that those who survived a suicide attempt would no longer be prosecuted. The text of ...
.


India

In 2017, the
Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...
passed a mental healthcare bill that (among other things) decriminalized attempts to commit suicide.


Ireland

As Ireland was under English rule (as the
Lordship of Ireland The Lordship of Ireland (), sometimes referred to retrospectively as Anglo-Norman Ireland, was the part of Ireland ruled by the King of England (styled as "Lord of Ireland") and controlled by loyal Anglo-Norman Lords between 1177 and 1542. T ...
and then the
Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland (; , ) was a dependent territory of Kingdom of England, England and then of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1542 to the end of 1800. It was ruled by the monarchs of England and then List of British monarchs ...
), similar ''felo de se'' laws were introduced. Common burial sites for suicides in Dublin were at The Long Meadow,
Islandbridge Island Bridge (), formerly Sarah or Sarah's Bridge, is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey, in Dublin, Ireland which joins the South Circular Road to Conyngham Road at the Phoenix Park. Island Bridge and the surrounding area (often known ...
, and at the Clonliffe Road–Ballybough Road crossroads. It is currently planned to erect a memorial at the latter site. Elsewhere in Ireland, suicides were often buried at
cillín A cillín (plural cillíní) is a historic burial site in Ireland, primarily used for stillborn and unbaptized infants. These burial areas were also used for the recently deceased who were not allowed in consecrated churchyards, including the me ...
plots, which were also used for stillborn and unbaptised babies, executed criminals, shipwrecked bodies, beggars and other outsiders. ''
Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...
'' author
Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...
grew up near the Crossroads burial site, and wrote in "
Dracula's Guest "Dracula's Guest" is a short story by Bram Stoker, first published in the short story collection '' Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories'' (1914). Scholars are divided on whether the story is the excised first chapter of the novel ''Dracula'' ...
" about "the old custom of burying suicides at crossroads." In
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, suicide was punished by "ignominious burial" until 1823 (Burial of Suicide Act) and punished by forfeiture of property until 1872 (
Forfeiture Act 1870 The Forfeiture Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 23) or the Abolition of Forfeiture Act 1870 or the Felony Act 1870 is a British act of Parliament that abolished the automatic forfeiture of goods and land as a punishment for treason and felony. It d ...
). Suicide was decriminalised in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
by the
Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 The Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 (c 20) (NI) is an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. It makes similar provision to the Homicide Act 1957 and the Suicide Act 1961 for Northern Ireland. Part I – Provisions as to crimi ...
. In the Republic of Ireland, suicide did not cease to be a crime until 1993, with the passage of the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act, 1993.


United States

In the 1700s, many
English colonies The English overseas possessions comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the Kingdom of England before 1707. (In 1707 the Acts of Union made England part of the Kingdom of Great Br ...
in what is now the United States decriminalized suicide. Later state laws against suicide and its attempt have been widely repealed; by the 1990s two states had the crime (or that of attempt) in their legal canon.


Use in literature

"Felo de se" titles works by *''
fin de siècle "''Fin de siècle''" () is a French term meaning , a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom '' turn of the century'' and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without co ...
'' poet
Amy Levy Amy Judith Levy (10 November 1861 – 9 September 1889) was an English essayist, poet, and novelist best remembered for her literary gifts; her experience as the third Jewish woman at Cambridge University, and as the second Jewish student at N ...
* Georgian poet Richard Hughes. It entitles a novel by
R. Austin Freeman Dr. Richard Austin Freeman (11 April 1862 – 28 September 1943) was a British writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr. Thorndyke. He invented the inverted detective story (a crime fiction in ...
. It is referred to in
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...
's opera
Albert Herring ''Albert Herring'', Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten. Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera '' The Rape of Lucretia''. The libretto, by Eric Cro ...
as a reason to explain the sudden disappearance of Albert after being crowned May King


Examples

*1854—
Joseph Zillwood Joseph Zillwood (c. 1804 – 19 October 1854) was a New Zealand policeman, farmer and innkeeper. He was baptised in Cholderton, Wiltshire, England in December 1804. After marrying his second wife Betsy Rose in 1836, they moved to France where t ...
, Lyttelton,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. *1919—John Moss, aged 44 and of 8 Foster Street,
Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, went missing just after 8 o'clock on the morning of 25 February 1919. He had just been questioned by police in his workplace about an attack on a family in their home in Geoffrey Street. Three weeks later, on 18 March 1919, Moss's body was recovered from the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
. At an inquest the following day, the coroner said that there was no evidence that Moss had an unsound mind and had murdered himself in his right senses, and a verdict of "''felo de se''" was returned.''Lancashire Evening Post'', 20 March 1919


References


Further reading

*Hawkins, W. Treatise of Pleas of the Crown. Volume 1
Chapter 9
{{History of English criminal law Latin legal terminology Suicide Legal history of England