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PHARMACEUTICAL RESPONSIBILITY - . 
action and recover damages in respect thereof, then and in every such case the 
person who would have been liable if death had not ensued shall be liable to 
an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured, and 
although the death shall have been caused under such circumstances as amount 
in law to felony. 
“ 2. And be it enacted, that every such action shall be for the benefit of the 
wife, husband, parent, and child of the person whose death shall have been so 
caused, and shall be brought by and in the name of the executor or administrator 
of the person deceased ; and in every such action the jury may give such damages 
as they may think proportioned to the injury resulting from such death to the 
parties respectively for whom and for whose benefit such action shall be brought; 
and the amount so recovered, after deducting the costs not recovered from the 
defendant, shall be divided amongst the before-mentioned parties, in such shares 
as the jury by their verdict shall find and direct. 
“ 3. Provided always, and be it enacted, that not more than one action shall lie 
for and in respect of the same subject-matter of complaint; and that every such 
action shall be commenced within twelve calendar months after the death of such 
deceased person. 
“ 4. And be it enacted, that in every such action the plaintiff on the record 
shall be required, together with the declaration, to deliver to the defendant, or his 
.attorney, a full particular of the person or persons for whom and on wdiose be¬ 
half such action shall be brought, and of the nature of the claim in respect of 
which damages shall be sought to be recovered. 
“ 5. And be it enacted, that the following words and expressions are intended 
to have the meanings hereby assigned to them respectively, so far as such mean¬ 
ings are not excluded by the context or by the nature of the subject-matter; that 
is to say, words denoting the singular number are to be understood to apply also 
to a plurality of persons or things ; and words denoting the masculine gender are 
to be understood to apply also to persons of the feminine gender ; and the word 
4 person ’ shall apply to bodies politic and corporate; and the word 1 parent ’ 
shall include father and mother, and grandfather and grandmother, and stepfather 
and stepmother ; and the word ‘ child 5 shall include son and daughter, and 
grandson and granddaughter, and stepson and stepdaughter. 
“ 6. And be it enacted, that this Act shall come into operation from and imme¬ 
diately after the passing thereof, and that nothing therein contained shall apply 
to that part of the United Kingdom called Scotland. 
“ 7. And be it enacted, that this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act 
to be passed in this Session of Parliament.” 
Previously to the passing of this law, although a person who had sustained 
an injury by the act of another could recover damages from the person causing 
the injury, yet in the event of the injured person dying from the effects of the 
injury, his executors or administrators had no such remedy; but a sort of fine of 
the estimated value of the instrument or object by which the injury was im¬ 
mediately inflicted, and which was called a Deodand, was paid to the Crown. 
A deodand (Deo dandum ) is described by Sheridan as “ a thing given or for¬ 
feited to God for pacifying his wrath, in case of any misfortune by which any 
Christian comes to a violent end without the fault of any reasonable creature.” 
Thus, in the case of a railway or other accident, in which human life was 
destroyed, the object, such as part of the railway train, by which the fatal 
injury was inflicted, became a deodand; but the immediate relatives of the 
■deceased could obtain no compensation for the loss they sustained. By Lord 
Campbell’s Act, the means of recovering compensation in such cases are provided, 
and in most instances in which the law has hitherto been applied, its operation 
has been felt to be just and beneficial. When railway companies are called 
upon to pay heavy damages for the loss of life caused by accidents on their lines, 
it often happens that injuries which would otherwise be ruinous to the families 
of the deceased are greatly mitigated, without any very sensible loss being in- 
