200 SUICIDE FROM A LEGAL POINT OF VIEW. 



have a combination of superstitious practices. The stake was 

 supposed to interfere with the mobility of the ghost. The object 

 of choosing a situation where two roads crossed is not quite 

 clear. But the practice of putting evil things at cross-roads is 

 found in different parts of the globe. It has been suggested 

 that it was supposed to lead to the dispersion of the mischievous 

 iufluence, as a bad smell in a house is dispersed by throwing 

 open the door and windows. 



This mode of burial was altered by statute so late as 1823 — 

 that is, in the lifetime of persons now living. The forfeiture of 

 the goods of the suicide was abolished in 1870, though I under- 

 stand it had become obsolete before that time. Such goods and 

 chattels were forfeited to the Crown on a verdict by a coroner's 

 jury to the effect that the deceased had been guilty of the crime 

 of suicide — that is, had deliberately killed himself. The forfeiture 

 was averted if the jury found that the suicide was com- 

 mitted while in a " state of unsound mind." So that this verdict, 

 which is notoriously given whether or not there is proof of 

 insanity, was formerly of imix)rtance to the relatives of the 

 deceased and a check upon the cruelty of the law. 



Though those barbarities have been dispensed with, under 

 English law suicide is still a form of murder. Rather illogi- 

 cally, however, an attempt to commit suicide is not an attempt 

 to commit murder. Still, it is a crime punishable by fine and 

 im.prisonment. It is further a rule of English law that where 

 two persons agree to commit suicide and one fails in the attempt 

 on his own life, he or she is guilty of the murder of his com- 

 panion who was successful in getting rid of himself or herself. 



It is rather surprising that in South Africa our law on the 

 subject of suicide is more enlightened than that of modern Eng- 

 land, though our law is that which prevailed in Holland some 

 200 years ago. There seems no doubt that according to the law 

 of this country suicide is not a crime, unless possibly when com- 

 mitted to escape punishment for a crime. Van Leeuwen. an 

 authority on Roman-Dutch law, who wrote as early as 1678, 

 humanely observes : " With reference to him who commits 

 suicide and purposely causes his own death, and whether he is 

 to be punished, we must observe that the death of such a i)erson 

 is not punishable unless it duly appears that he has intentionally 

 and wilfully killed himself after having committed some crime 

 out of remorse of conscience and in order to escape punishment. 

 But they who have not committed any crime, but merely 

 destroyed themselves out of grief and despair, are not punish- 

 able." Van der' Linden, who wrote in 1806, lays down that 

 suicide is not punishable, though he adds that it is not permissible 

 (ongeoorloofd). Judge Kotze, in his notes to Van Leeuwen, 

 suggests that attempted suicide may be a crime at the present 

 day, at least when the attempt is made to evade punishment for 

 a crime. Still, I think that the most probable statement of the 



