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deodand
[ dee-uh-dand ]
noun
- (before 1846) an animal or article that, having been the immediate cause of the death of a human being, was forfeited to the crown to be applied to pious uses.
deodand
/ ˈdiːəʊˌdænd /
noun
- English law (formerly) a thing that had caused a person's death and was forfeited to the crown for a charitable purpose: abolished 1862
Word History and Origins
Origin of deodand1
Word History and Origins
Origin of deodand1
Example Sentences
The claim is against the property that caused harm, and the object or its equivalent value would be forfeited to the Crown as a “deodand,” which is something “given to God.”
Deodand, dē′o-dand, n. in old English law, a personal chattel which had been the immediate, accidental cause of the death of a human being, forfeited to the crown for pious uses.
The verdict returned was "Accidental Death," with a deodand of five pounds upon the bull.
The old law of Deodand was an expression of this feeling of resentment against inanimate objects even.
It was a principle of English common law derived from the feudal period, that anything through the instrumentality of which death occurred was forfeited to the p. 89crown as a deodand; accordingly down to the year 1840 and even later, we find, in all cases where persons were killed, records of deodands levied by the coroners’ juries upon locomotives.
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