Deodands
Within memory, when an accident occurred, it was customary to inflict a kind of fine or penalty thus: supposing a boy was run over by a vehicle, the verdict was recorded “Accidental death, with a deodand of one shilling upon the cart.” In the Liber Albus (27 Henry III.), we read that a man fell from a boat into the Thames, and was drowned; no one was held in suspicion as to the same; the judgment was “Misadventure,” and the value of the boat, 4s. 7d., was exacted as a deodand, payable to the king. [See Things not generally known, First Series, p. 173.] The deodandum (Deo dandum, given to God) of our jurisprudence may be reckoned among the mysterious things of history. The deodand is philanthropic, it is religious, and it is so far clerical, that its value, when levied, was handed over to the clergy. Fleta, a commentator on English law, temp. Edward I., says that the deodand is to be sold, and the price distributed to the poor, for the soul of the king, his ancestors, and all faithful people departed this life. Yet it was not ecclesiastical: it cannot be recovered by suit in the courts of canon law, but only in the courts of the king’s coroner, either for counties, or for all England. This ancient custom was abolished by act 9th and 10th Vict., cap. 62, which enacts that subsequent to September 1st, 1846, there shall be no forfeiture of chattels in respect of homicide.