A posthumous trial or post-mortem trial is a
trial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
held after the
defendant
In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case.
Terminology varies from one juris ...
's death. Posthumous trials can be held for a variety of reasons, including the legal declaration that the defendant was the one who committed the crime, to provide justice for society or family members of the victims, or to exonerate a wrongfully convicted person after their death.
Due to the obvious difficulties both of the defendant to mount a capable defence, as well as of effectively imposing any penalties (other than against the estate, such as damages) the practice is generally considered more as a method of providing closure for the case in question. In Swedish procedural law, for instance, a criminal defendant can be tried after death only following conviction by a district (or appeal) court if there has been an appeal or if the relatives lodge an appeal on behalf of the deceased; typically in the interest of clearing the name through posthumous acquittal. As penalties, including
fine
Fine may refer to:
Characters
* Fran Fine, the title character of ''The Nanny''
* Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny''
* Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano
Legal terms
* Fine (p ...
s, are immediately rescinded upon conviction, only the question of guilt or innocence is effectively established. Should a defendant die during appeal after acquitted, the acquittal automatically stands, regardless of the offence or evidence concerned.
Notable posthumous trials
*
Cadaver Synod of
Pope Formosus
Pope Formosus (896) was the pope and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as Pope was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Kingdom of ...
*
Farinata degli Uberti
*
Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII (; born Benedetto Caetani; – 11 October 1303) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 until his death in 1303. The Caetani, Caetani family was of baronial origin with connections t ...
*
Retrial of Joan of Arc, overturned her earlier heresy conviction.
*
Francesco Maria Carafa, resulting in exoneration.
* The
Wanli Emperor
The Wanli Emperor (4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shenzong of Ming, personal name Zhu Yijun, art name Yuzhai, was the 14th List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reig ...
, seized and denounced by Beijing's
Red Guards
The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes
According to a ...
in 1966.
*
Wu Xun[MacFarquhar, Roderick. "Red Terror." ]Mao's Last Revolution
''Mao's Last Revolution'' is a 2006 book by Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals released by Belknap Press.
Harvard University Press presented it as " acFarquhar and Schoenhalsexplain why Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, and show hi ...
. Cambridge: Harvard University. 2006. p. 120.
*
Henry Plummer, resulting in a mistrial.
*
Sergei Magnitsky
Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky (, ; ; 8 April 1972 – 16 November 2009) was a Russian tax advisor responsible for exposing corruption and misconduct by Russian government officials while representing client Hermitage Capital Management. His ...
*
Saint Genevieve
*
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, and a war criminal. Bormann gained immense power by using his position as Hitler ...
, as part of the main
Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials
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, formally ''in absentia'', death confirmed in 1973.
See also
*
Kangaroo court
Kangaroo court is an informal pejorative term for a court that ignores recognized standards of law or justice, carries little or no official standing in the territory within which it resides, and is typically convened ad hoc. A kangaroo court ma ...
*
Trial in absentia
Trial in absentia is a criminal proceeding in a court of law in which the person being tried is not present. is Latin for "in (the) absence". Its interpretation varies by jurisdiction and legal system.
In common law legal systems, the phrase i ...
*
Declared death in absentia
A presumption of death occurs when an individual is believed to be dead, despite the absence of direct proof of the person's death, such as the finding of remains (e.g., a cadaver, corpse or skeleton) attributable to that person. Such a presump ...
*
Show trial
A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...
References
Criminal justice
Legal aspects of death
Types of trials
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