felos de se

A person who takes their own life is called a felos de se.

Definition

1. Noun (plural or ):
   • Historical legal term: "felos de se" refers to a person who commits suicide, specifically in the context of English common law where suicide was considered a felony (a serious crime). The term literally means "felon of himself" in Latin.
   • Act of suicide: It also denotes the act of suicide itself, treated as a self-murder under historical law.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The coroner's inquest declared him a felos de se, as he had taken his own life. (The legal investigation determined his death was suicide, which was a crime.)
  • Under medieval law, a felos de se could not be buried in consecrated ground. (Suicide victims were denied religious burial rites.)

Advanced Usage

• "to be adjudged a felos de se": to be officially declared a suicide by a legal authority.

  • The jury adjudged the deceased a felos de se after reviewing the evidence. (The jury legally determined the death was self-inflicted.)

• "the estate of a felos de se": the property of a suicide victim, which could be forfeited to the Crown under historical law.

  • The estate of a felos de se was often seized by the state. (The suicide's belongings were taken by the government.)

Variants and Related Words

• Felones de se (plural): the plural form of felos de se.

  • The records listed three felones de se from that year. (Three suicides were legally recorded.)

• Felo de se (singular variant): an alternative spelling or form of felos de se.

  • The term felo de se is sometimes used interchangeably with felos de se. (Both refer to a suicide under law.)

Synonyms

• Suicide: the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
• Self-murder: an archaic term for suicide, emphasizing its criminal nature.

Related Idioms

• "To die by one's own hand": to commit suicide.

  • He died by his own hand, but the modern view rejects the felos de se label. (He killed himself, but today it is not considered a crime.)

• "To make a felos de se": to commit suicide (historical legal phrasing).

  • The law once punished anyone who made a felos de se by confiscating their goods. (Suicide was historically punished.)