Self-murder is ranked among the higher crimes, being a peculiar species
of felony, as implied in the technical term _felo de se_. To constitute
this offence, the party must be in his senses, else it is no crime; but
this excuse ought not to be strained to that length to which our
coroner’s juries are too apt to carry it,[88] viz. that the very act of
suicide is an evidence of insanity; as if every man who acts contrary to
reason, had no reason at all; for the same argument would prove every
other criminal _non compos_, as well as the self-murderer. The law very
rationally judges, that every melancholy or hypochondriac fit does not
deprive a man of the capacity of discerning right from wrong; and,
therefore, if a real lunatic kills himself in a lucid interval, he is
_felo de se_ as much as another man. 1 _Hales, P. C._ 412. 1 _Hawk. P.
C._ _c._ 27, _s._ 3.
As to the punishment which human laws inflict on this crime, they can
only act upon what the criminal has left behind him,—his reputation and
fortune; on the former, by an ignominious burial in the highway, with a
stake driven through his body; on the latter, by the forfeiture of all
his goods and chattels to the king.
In this as well as all other felonies, the offender must be of the age
of discretion, and _compos mentis_; and therefore an infant killing
himself, under the age of discretion, (of which some extraordinary
instances have lately been related in the public journals) or a lunatic
during his lunacy, cannot be a _felo de se_. 1 _Hawk. P. C._ _c._ 27,
_s._ 1. _Crom._ 30, _a_ 6, 31; _Hales P. C._ 28; _Dalt._ _c._ 92; 3
_Inst._ 54.
He who kills another, though at his own desire or command, is a
murderer;[89] and the person killed is not looked upon as a _felo de
se_, in as much as his assent was merely void, being against the law of
God and man; 1 _Hawk. P. C._ _c._ 27, _s._ 6; _Keilw._ 136; _Moor_ 754.
But query, as he is the guilty cause of his own death, is he not a
felon? for if the question had been of the death of another, his consent
to it would have been equally against the laws of God and man; yet if
poison were given by his direction or command, even though he were not
present, and might have repented, it would be murder, much more then,
when he actually assists at the perpetration.
Further, as to what a _felo de se_ shall forfeit, it seems clear that he
shall forfeit all chattels, real or personal, which he hath in his own
right; and also all chattels real, whereof he is possessed jointly with
his wife, or in her right; and also all bonds and other personal things
in action, belonging solely to himself; and also all personal things in
action, and as some say, entire chattels in possession, to which he was
entitled jointly with another, on any account, except that of
merchandize. But it is said, that he shall forfeit a moiety only of such
joint chattels as may be severed, and nothing at all of what he was
possessed of as executor or administrator; 1 _Hawk. P. C._ _c._ 27, _s._
7, and authorities there. However the blood of a _felo de se_ is not
corrupted, nor his lands of inheritance forfeited, nor his wife barred
of her dower. 1 _Hawk. P. C._ _c._ 27, _s._ 1; _Plowd. Com._ 261 b, 262
a; 1 _Hales, P. C._ 413. The will of a _felo de se_ becomes void as to
his personal property, but not as to his real estate. _Plowd._ 261.
Not any part of the personal estate is vested in the king, before the
self-murder is found by some inquisition; and consequently the
forfeiture thereof is saved by a pardon of the offence before such
finding; 5 _Co. R._ 110 b; 3 _Inst._ 54; 1 _Saund._ 362; 1 _Sid._ 150,
162. But if there be no such pardon, the whole is forfeited immediately
after such inquisition, from the time of the act done, by which the
death was caused; and all intermediate alienations and titles are
avoided. _Plowd. Comm._ 260; _Hales P. C._ 29; 5 _Co. R._ 110; _Finch._
216. All such inquisitions ought to be by the coroner _super visum
corporis_, if the body can be found; and an inquisition so taken cannot,
as some say, be traversed. _Hale, P. C._ 29; 3 _Inst._ 55; 1 _Hawk. P.
C._ _c._ 27, _s._ 9, 10, 11. But see also 3 _Mod._ 238, 1 _Burr._ 17.
But if the body cannot be found, so that the coroner, who has authority
only _super visum corporis_, (vide ante. p. 93), cannot proceed, the
inquiry may be by Justices of the Peace, (who by their commissions have
a general power to inquire of all felonies,) or in the King’s Bench, if
the felony were committed in the county where the court sits; and such
inquisitions are traversable by the executor, &c. 1 _Hawk. P. C._ _c._
27, _s._ 12; 3 _Inst._ 55; _Hales P. C._ 29; 2 _Lev._ 141.
Also all inquisitions of this offence being in the nature of
indictments, ought particularly and certainly to set forth the
circumstances of the fact; and in conclusion add, that the party in such
manner murdered himself. 1 _Hawk. P. C._ _c._ 27, _s._ 13; 3 _Lev._ 140;
3 _Mod._ 100; 2 _Lev._ 152. Yet if it be full in substance, the coroner
may be served with a rule to amend a defect in form. 1 _Sid._ 225, 259;
3 _Mod._ 101; 1 _Keb._ 907; 1 _Hawk. P. C._ _c._ 27, _s._ 15.
If a person is unduly found _felo de se_; or on the other hand found to
be a lunatic, when in fact he was not so, and therefore ought to have
been found _felo de se_; although a writ of _melius inquirendum_ will
not be granted, yet the inquisition is traversable in the King’s Bench.
3 _Mod._ 238.
By the rubrick in the Common Prayer, before the burial office,
(confirmed by _Statute_ 13 and 14, _Car._ 2, _c._ 4) persons who have
laid violent hands on themselves shall not have that office used at
their interment. Yet the priest has no power of enquiry, or even as it
would appear of delay, in order to enquiry, when a body (though it be of
a notorious suicide) is brought to his church for interment. “The proper
judges, whether persons who died by their own hands were out of their
senses” (and a fortiori whether they did or not die by their own hands)
“are doubtless the coroner’s jury. The minister of the parish hath no
authority to be present at viewing the body, or to summon or examine
witnesses, and therefore he is neither entitled nor able to judge in the
affair; but may well acquiesce in the public determination, without
making any private enquiry. Indeed, were he to make one, the opinion
which he might form from thence could usually be grounded only on common
discourse, and bare assertion. And it cannot be justifiable to act upon
these in contradiction to the decision of a jury, after hearing
witnesses upon oath. And though there may be reason to suppose that the
coroner’s jury are frequently favourable in their judgment in
consideration of the circumstances of the deceased’s family with respect
to the forfeiture, and their verdict is[90] in its own nature
traversable, yet the burial may not be delayed,[91] until that matter on
trial shall finally be determined. But on acquittal of the crime of
self-murder by the coroner’s jury, the body in that case not being
demanded by the law, it seemeth that a clergyman may and ought” (we can
safely add is compellable) “to admit that body to christian burial.” 1
_Burn’s Ecc. Law_, _tit. Burial_.