Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Formerly, in Eng. law. from the earliest times, a personal chattel which had been the immediate occasion of the death of a rational creature, and for that reason given to God—that is, forfeited to the king to be applied to pious uses and distributed in alms by his high almoner.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Old Eng. Law) A personal chattel which had caused the death of a person, and for that reason was given to God, that is, forfeited to the crown, to be applied to pious uses, and distributed in alms by the high almoner. Thus, if a cart ran over a man and killed him, it was forfeited as a
deodand .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete, law An object
forfeited by thestate (and supposedly given toGod ) because it had caused thedeath of a person
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Punishing or forfeiting the thing or animal that had done wrong was an old English institution, called deodand.
A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985
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Punishing or forfeiting the thing or animal that had done wrong was an old English institution, called deodand.
A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985
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There is some justification for the use of the Latin prefix in this manner - e.g. 'deodand', which occurs in 12th century English.
The Watcher: The New Zealand Voice of the Left Hand Path #10 1992
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Fake wizard Lixal Laqavee, having tired of his life as a conjurer in a circus, decides to learn some real magic, with troublesome results that force him into a highly hazardous alliance with a deodand of dubious reliability and a ravenous hunger for human flesh.
Archive 2009-07-01 Adam Whitehead 2009
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Fake wizard Lixal Laqavee, having tired of his life as a conjurer in a circus, decides to learn some real magic, with troublesome results that force him into a highly hazardous alliance with a deodand of dubious reliability and a ravenous hunger for human flesh.
Songs of the Dying Earth, edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois Adam Whitehead 2009
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Punishing or forfeiting the thing or animal that had done wrong was an old English institution, called deodand.
A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985
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The bound volume was forfeited as a deodand, but not claimed.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 01, November, 1857 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics Various
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Bracton,/1/in case a man was slain, the coroner was to value the object causing the death, and that was to be forfeited sa deodand "pro rege."
The Common Law Oliver Wendell Holmes 1888
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"Where a man killeth another with the sword of John at Stile, the sword shall be forfeit as deodand, and yet no default is in the owner."
The Common Law Oliver Wendell Holmes 1888
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Henry Spigurnel, a judge in the time of Edward I., is reported, that "where a man is killed by a cart, or by the fall of a house, or in other like manner, and the thing in motion is the cause of the death, it shall be deodand."
The Common Law Oliver Wendell Holmes 1888
chained_bear commented on the word deodand
"His neighbour, he found, had for some time been telling him about the nice distinctions to be found in English law. '...it is much the same with deodands, he continued. 'If a man leap on to a cart in motion, however slight that motion may be, and miss his footing so that he break his neck, then the cart and all it contains is a deodand, forfeit to the King. But in the case of a cart that is standing still, while the man climbs up by the wheel, and climbing falls to his death, the wheel alone is deodand.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 60
February 19, 2008
yarb commented on the word deodand
From the first moment of our meeting, I became attached to you by so strong a tie, as time has not been able to dissolve. When I lost you at Madrid, I did not despair of finding you again; and yesterday, on your sudden appearance, I received you like a deodand.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 7 ch. 10
October 1, 2008
knitandpurl commented on the word deodand
"The judges of the assize listened to and gave their verdict on cases of theft, of coin-clipping, street brawls, a smothered baby, bigamy, land disputes, ale that was too weak, loaves that were short, disputed wills, deodands, vagabondage, begging, shipmasters' quarrels, fisticuffs among neighbors, arson, runaway heiresses, and naughty apprentices."
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, p 382 of the Berkley paperback edition
February 28, 2012