''Felo de se'' (from
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
''fel''
'l'''ō dē sē'', "felon of him-/herself") was a concept applied against the
personal estate
property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be moved fr ...
s (assets) of adults who
ended their own lives.
Early English
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
, 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
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
and coroners' custom gradually deemed suicide temporary insanity—court-pronounced conviction and penalty to heirs were gradually phased out.
Such judgment and penalties had taken in any deceased, lawfully killed for self-defence or defence of another, committing a
felony
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 resu ...
.
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 resul ...
. 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. Burials for ''felones de se'' typically took place at night, with no mourners nor clergy; the place was often kept secret by justices of the peace, coroners and local undertakers.
A child or
lunatic
Lunatic is an antiquated term referring to a person who is seen as mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, or crazy—conditions once attributed to "lunacy". The word derives from ''lunaticus'' meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck".
History
The ter ...
(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 or attinctura 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 hereditar ...
.
Burial at the place mentioned persisted until the
Burial of Suicide Act 1823
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
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 Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, 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 church ...
. 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 constr ...
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 first used in thirteenth-century English law to describe peop ...
'' instead. As such the perpetrator's property was not forfeit (given to
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
).
[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 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. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
, 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 failed in the attempt to kill themselves would no longer be prosecuted.
Th ...
.
India
In 2017, the Indian Parliament
The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...
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 ( ga, Tiarnas na hÉireann), sometimes referred to retroactively as 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 ...
and then the Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...
), 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 cilliní) are historic burial sites 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 men ...
plots, which were also used for stillborn and unbaptised babies, executed criminals, shipwrecked bodies, beggars and other outsiders.
''Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'' author Bram Stoker
Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...
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). It was written as the first chapter for Stoker's 1897 novel ''Dracula'', but was deleted prior t ...
" about "the old custom of burying suicides at crossroads."
In Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, 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) is a British Act of Parliament that abolished the automatic forfeiture of goods and land as a punishment for treason and felony. It does not apply to Scotland, which did not fully abolish forfeiture u ...
).
Suicide was decriminalised in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
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, also known as the English colonial empire, comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England during the centuries before the Ac ...
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
() is a French term meaning "end of century,” 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 context ...
'' 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 second Jewish woman at Cambridge University, and as the first Jewish student at N ...
*Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
poet Richard Hughes.
It entitles a novel by R. Austin Freeman.
Examples
*1854— Joseph Zillwood, Lyttelton, New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
*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 came pr ...
, Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, 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]
Notes
References
*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