DEODAND

6 definitions found across Law Mind sources

DEODANDAuthored
The Law Mind • 1096 words
Definition
A deodand was any personal chattel — animate or inanimate — that was the immediate and accidental cause of the death of a human being, and which was thereby forfeited to the Crown under English law. The forfeited object (or its assessed value) was to be distributed in alms through the King's high almoner, ostensibly to appease divine displeasure and atone for the death. If a horse kicked a man to death, or a cart wheel crushed a pedestrian, the animal or vehicle became the deodand — a thing to be given to God. The doctrine was abolished in England by the Deodands Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. 62). It has no operative place in modern common law. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): An object forfeited to the state (and supposedly to God) because it had caused a person's death; alternatively, a fine equal to the value of that object, paid by the object's owner. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A personal chattel which had caused the death of a person, and for that reason was given to God — that is, forfeited to the Crown to be applied to pious uses and distributed as alms. If a cart ran over a man and killed him, it was forfeited as a deodand. The gap between common and legal meaning is minimal here, but the Wiktionary framing of a "fine paid by the owner" slightly distorts the original doctrine. Technically the chattel itself was forfeited, not a personal penalty imposed on the owner. In later practice, juries did assess a monetary value rather than order physical surrender of the object, which is likely the origin of the "fine" framing — but it is an imprecise one for research purposes. ---
Common Confusion
Deodand is sometimes loosely conflated with other forfeiture doctrines, particularly civil forfeiture or the ancient forfeiture of a felon's goods (bona et catalla). The distinctions matter for corpus research. Deodand applied specifically where an object caused accidental death — there was no criminal actor whose property was being punished. The forfeiture was directed at the instrument of death itself, not at any person found guilty of wrongdoing. Bouvier notes that Coke described the rationale as "appeasing God's wrath," reflecting the quasi-religious rather than punitive character of the doctrine. Researchers should also not conflate deodand with the writ or proceeding of the same name. The deodand as forfeited chattel and the inquest proceeding by which a coroner's jury found and valued the deodand are related but distinct objects of legal inquiry. ---
Why It Matters in Research
Deodand is an abolished doctrine, but it appears with notable frequency in historical English legal materials and demands careful navigation. First, dating matters absolutely. Any source prior to 1846 may treat deodand as operative law. Any source after 1846 treats it as historical. The Deodands Act abolished the doctrine entirely; researchers should not assume continuity across that date. Second, the doctrine resurfaces in modern scholarship as a conceptual precursor to civil asset forfeiture and, more provocatively, to product liability and wrongful death statutes. The argument — made by legal historians — is that the abolition of deodand in 1846 was partly motivated by the rise of railway accidents, where juries were assessing enormous deodand values against locomotive engines. Some scholars treat the Deodands Act as a protective measure for the nascent railway industry rather than a purely rationalist law reform. This interpretive context is important when deodand appears in 19th-century legal reform debates. Third, Bouvier's entry contains an important caveat that is truncated in the surviving text: a reference to Bracton and a "mistranslation" that "gave rise to so —" (the entry cuts off). Researchers using Bouvier's on this term should note the incomplete passage and verify against Bracton directly if the etymological or theological rationale is at issue. Fourth, the forfeiture was administered through the coroner's inquest, not through ordinary criminal or civil process. Deodand findings appear in coroner's records, not necessarily in court rolls. Researchers mining historical sources for deodand references should extend their search to inquest materials, not only law reports. Fifth, the doctrine applied only to personal chattels. Real property could not be a deodand. This boundary matters when reading early sources that describe forfeitures in ambiguous terms. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
The five source dictionaries are in strong agreement on the core definition: a personal chattel immediately causing human death, forfeited to the Crown, distributed in alms by the high almoner. Black's (both editions) and Burrill are nearly identical in language, drawing on the same authorities — Hale's Pleas of the Crown, Fleta, and Blackstone's Commentaries. Rapalje & Lawrence is the most practically useful of the five for the modern researcher, as it explicitly notes the abolition statute (9 & 10 Vict. c. 62) and gives the concrete examples (man run over by a cart, killed by an ox) that illustrate scope. The other dictionaries do not flag the abolition. Bouvier adds the Coke quotation on "appeasing God's wrath" and gestures toward a significant scholarly point about Bracton and mistranslation, but the entry is truncated in the available text. What Bouvier appears to be signaling — consistent with the historiographical record — is that Bracton's Latin has been read to support a broader or narrower application of the doctrine than the text strictly warrants. None of the historical dictionaries address the railway-era application or the political economy of the 1846 abolition, which is the dimension most relevant to 19th-century English legal history research. Blackstone's Commentaries (1 Bl. Comm. 300, cited by all five) remains the most complete traditional treatment and should be consulted directly for primary analysis. ---
Jurisdictional Note
Deodand was a doctrine of English law and did not transplant into American common law. U.S. courts and legal commentators consistently declined to adopt it, and it appears in American legal dictionaries primarily as a historical reference. Researchers working in colonial American materials or early republic sources should not assume deodand applied in any American jurisdiction. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Forfeiture — for doctrinal context and comparison with other Crown forfeiture mechanisms. See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Crown Prerogatives in English Law — for the administrative framework under which deodand proceeds were distributed. ---
Related Terms
Forfeiture Bona et catalla (felon's goods) Coroner's inquest Civil forfeiture Wrongful death (historical development) Deodands Act 1846 Almoner Chattel Estray
DEODANDmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
(L. Lat. Deo dandum, a thing to be given to God.) In English law. Any personal chattel which was the immedi- ate 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 Hale, P. C. 419; Fleta, lib. 1, c. 25; 1 Bl. Comm. 300; 2 Steph. Comm. 365.
DEODANDmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
Any personal chattel whatever, animate or inanimate, which is the immediate cause of the death of a hu- man creature. It was forfeited to the king to be distributed in alms by his high almo- ner "for the appeasing," says Coke, "of God's wrath." The word comes from Deo dandum, a thing that must be offered to God. A Latin phrase which is attributed to Bracton has, by mistranslation, given rise to some erroneous statements in some of the authors as to what are deolands. Omnia que ad mortem movent, although it evidently means all things which tend to produce death, has been rendered move to death, thus giv- ing rise to the theory that things in motion only are to be forfeited. A difference, however, according to Blackstone, existed as to how much was to be sacri- ficed. Thus, if a inan should fall from a cartwheel, the cart being stationary, and be killed, the wheel only would be deodand while, if he was run over by the same wheel in motion, not only the wheel but the cart and the load became deodand. And this, even though it belonged to the dead man. Horses, oxen, carts, boats, mill-wheels, and cauldrons were the commonest deodands. The common name for it was the bana," the slayer. In the thirteenth cen- tury the common practice was that the thing itself was delivered to the men of the township where the death occurred, and they had to account to the king's officers. In very early records the justices in eyre named the charitable purpose, to which the money was to be applied; 2 Poll. & Maitl. 471. In 1840, a railway company in England was amerced £2,000, as a deodand. Deodands were not abolished till 1846; Statute 9 & 10 Vict. c. 62. See 1 Bla. Com. 301; 2 Steph. Com. 551. Originally deodands went to the Crown, to be applied to charitable uses; they were often granted to lords of manors. The value was fixed, generally very low, by the coroner's jury. The Law's Lumber Room 60. No deodand accrues in the case of a felo- nious killing; 1 Q. B. 818; 1 G. & D. 211, 481; 9 Dow. 1048.
DEODANDmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888
- Formerly if a personal chattel was the immediate and accidental cause of the death of any reasonable creature (as where a man was run over by a cart or killed by an ox), it was forfeited to the crown under the name of a deodand (Deo, to God, dandum, to be given). This rule was abolished by Stat. 9 and 10 Vict. c. 62. 1 Bl. Com. 300; 2 Steph. Com. 551.
DEODANDn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
A personal chattel which had caused the death of a person, and for that reason was given to God, that is, forfeited to the crown, to be applied to pious uses, and distributed in alms by the high almoner. Thus, if a cart ran over a man and killed him, it was forfeited as a deodand.
deodandnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
An object forfeited to the state (and supposedly to God) because it had caused the death of a person. | A fine equal to the value of this object, paid by the owner of the object.

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