Civil death
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Civil death (Latin: civiliter mortuus) [1] is a term that refers to the loss of all or almost all civil rights by a person due to a conviction for a felony (a crime punishable with more than a year's imprisonment) or due to an act by the government of a country that results in the loss of civil rights. It is usually inflicted on persons convicted of crimes against the state or adults determined by a court to be legally incompetent because of mental disability[2].
In medieval Europe, felons lost all civil rights upon their conviction. This civil death often lead to actual death, since anyone could kill and injure an ex-felon with impunity.[3] In the old German empire, a person declared civilly dead was called "vogelfrei" ("free as a bird") and could even be killed since they were completely outside the law. [4]
Historically outlawry, that is, declaring a person as an outlaw, was a common form of civil death. [5]
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ http://www.law-dictionary.org/CIVILITER+MORTUUS.asp?q=CIVILITER+MORTUUS
- ^ See e.g. Interdiction of F.T.E., 594 So.2d 480 (La. App. 2d Cir. 1992).
- ^ Manza, Jeff and Uggen, Christopher. Punishment and Democracy: Disenfranchisement of Nonincarcerated Felons in the United States. 'Perspectives on Politics.' Page 492. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3688812
- ^ Article "Death, Civil;" Encyclopædia Americana, 1830 ed, page 138
- ^ Article "Death, Civil;" Encyclopædia Americana, 1830 ed, page 138