Felo De Se - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition felo-de-se

Definition :

Felo de se (a felon with respect to himself); one who feloniously commits suicide. The barbarous mode of burying such persons, in a place where four roads met, with a stake driven through their bodies, was abolished by 4 Geo. 4, c. 52, which directed burial in the churchyard or other burial ground (without divine service) between the hours of nine and twelve at night. The (English) Interments (Felo de se) Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 19), repealed and re-enacted the above Act, omitting the provisions as to the hours of burial, and allowing, by permission of the ordinary, a religious service, the Prayer Book expressly forbidding the use of the Burial Service therein contained in the case of those who die 'laying violent hands on themselves,' Escheat or forfeiture for felony is abolished by the (English) Forfeiture Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23). A coroner's inquest (see CORONER) must beheld in every case of suicide, and in the absence of evidence of unsoundness of mind a verdict of felo de se must still be directed and returned.

To attempt to commit suicide is a misdemeanour at Common Law, and is triable at Quarter Sessions, Reg. v. Burgess, 1862 L&C 258.

In the army, by s. 38 of the (English) Army Act (44 & 45 Vict. c. 58), an officer is liable to be cashiered and a soldier to be imprisoned for attempted suicide.