Civil Death - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition civil-death

Definition :

Civil death. A man is said to be civilly dead (civiliter mortuus) when he has been attainted of treason or felony, and, in former times, when he adjured the realm or went into a monastery. The (English) Forfeiture Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23), provides that after the passing of that Act no confession, verdict, inquest, conviction, or judgment of or for any treason or felony, or felo de se, shall cause any attainder or corruption of blood, or any forfeiture or escheat.

At common law, the loss of rights. Such as the rights to vote, make contracts, inherit, hold public office and sue, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.

Civil death, where a property-owner has not been heard of for more than seven years and is therefore treated as having died a civil death, Sheo Nand v. Deputy Director of Consolidation, Allahabad, (2000) 3 SCC 103.