From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Not to be confused with Deobandi.





The transition from bane to deodand remains obscure. By the second half of the thirteenth century, however, the coroner's rolls are replete with references to vats, tubs, horses, carts, boats, stones, trees, etc.[2] The rules on which they depended were not easily explained by the old commentators. The law distinguished, for instance, between a thing in motion and a thing standing still. If a horse or other animal in motion killed a person, whether infant or adult, or if a cart ran over him, it was forfeited as a deodand. On the other hand, if death were caused by falling from a cart or a horse at rest, the law made the chattel a deodand if the person killed were an adult, but not if he were below the years of discretion.[7]



The rapid development of the railways during the 1830s, saw an epidemic of railway deaths. The indifferent attitudes of the railway companies caused increasing public hostility.

Under the common law of England and Wales, compensation could only be paid for physical damage to the claimant or their property. The families of fatal accident victims had no claim for purely emotional and economic loss. As a result, coroner's juries started to award deodands as a way of penalising the railways.[10]



In the United States[edit]


Some U.S. state constitutions prohibit deodands,[13] frequently in the same article that prohibits corruption of blood.[citation needed]


  1. ^ Chisholm 1911.
  2. ^ a b Pervukhin, Anna (2005). "Deodands A Study in the Creation of Common Law Rules". American Journal of Legal History. 47 (3): 237–256. doi:10.2307/30039513. ISSN 0002-9319. JSTOR 30039513. 
  4. ^ Sir Edward Coke (1669)
  6. ^ Attenborough, F. L. (1922). The Laws of the Earliest English Kings. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-404-56545-X. 
  7. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Deodand". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 55. 
  8. ^ Smith (1967)
  9. ^ Parliamentary Debates pp623-626
  11. ^ Cornish, W.; Clarke, G. (1989). Law and Society in England 1750-1950. London: Sweet & Maxwell. pp. 503–504. ISBN 0-421-31150-9. 
  12. ^ Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. (1881). The Common Law. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0-691-03398-6. 
  13. ^ "Constitution of the State of Vermont".