Deodand
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Part of speech noun
Quick meaning: Deodand is a noun meaning (historical, law) An object forfeited to the state (and supposedly to God) because it had caused the death of a person.
Meaning
(historical, law) An object forfeited to the state (and supposedly to God) because it had caused the death of a person.
More Meanings
- (historical, law) A fine equal to the value of this object, paid by the owner of the object.
Example Sentences
pay the deodand
Really, it’s hard not to wonder whether some current civil forfeiture practices represent much less than a revival of the archaic common-law deodand.
Word Forms
- deodands
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include deodate, deede, deeder, donary, dorse, doeing.
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Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.