deodand, an object (such as a knife, pistol, or runaway carriage)
663, 681 (1974) ("The value of the instrument was forfeited to the King, in the belief that the King would provide the money for Masses to be said for the good of the dead man's soul, or insure that the
deodand was put to charitable uses."); OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR., THE COMMON LAW 34 (Law Book Exch., Ltd.
Hecht's The
Deodand (a thing to be given to God) describes the women's "strange charade":
deodand, in which offending property was condemned and confiscated by
More Light!" stands out as one of his two most horrifying and despairing poems (the other being a significantly later poem, "The
Deodand"), depicting in its second half the sadistic "collaborative" execution of two Jews and a Pole at the hands of the Nazis.
did "
deodand" forfeiture of objects causing accidental death);
Early law punishes brutes for the harm they do, and the domestic animal that hurts a human being is
deodand. Law now looks farther back, but the public in its short-sightedness is like a stricken animal biting at the arrow in its flank instead of charging on the hunter.
DEODAND: An object that caused a person's death (for example the boat from which a person fell and drowned).
Furthermore, after any type of killing, the coroner took possession of the thing that had actually effected the death, termed the
deodand. Be it a knife borrowed by a murderer or a draught horse that had run amok and accidentally trampled a bystander, the
deodand forfeited to the crown, ostensibly to be put to pious purposes (a practice not officially abolished until 1846).
Farr severely criticised the laws that existed to prevent accidents after the abolition of the law of
deodand, including the Police Act, which imposed a trivial penalty even for accidents involving a fatality.
As Frederic Maitland elegantly puts it in The History of English Law (1898), "many horses and boats bore the guilt which should have been ascribed to beer." Known as "
deodand," meaning "a thing given to God" (Deo dandum--that is to be given to God) in recompense for blood casually shed, this early modern ritual remained in practice in England until 1846 when its application to railway engines brought its irrational nature to public notice.