Death

DEATH, the permanent cessation of the vital functions in the bodies of animals and plants, the end of life or act of dying. The word is the English representative of the substantive com mon to Teutonic languages, as "dead" is of the adjective, and "die" of the verb ; the ultimate origin is the pre-Teutonic verbal stem dau-; cf. Ger. Tod, Dutch dood, Swed. and Dan. clod.

For the scientific aspects of the processes involved in life and its cessation see BIOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY, and allied articles; and for the consideration of the prolongation of life see LONGEVITY. Here it is only necessary to deal with the more primitive views of death and with certain legal aspects.

Ethnology.

To the savage, death from natural causes is inexplicable. At all times and in all lands, if he reflects upon death at all, he fails to under stand it as a natural phenomenon.

If a man dies without being wounded he is considered to be the victim of the sorcerers and the evil spirits with which they consort. Throughout Africa the death of anyone is ascribed to the magicians of some hostile tribe ()I to the malicious act of a neigh bour. A culprit is easily discov ered either by an appeal to a local diviner or by torturing some one into confession. In Australia whenever a native dies, no matter how evident it may be that death has been the result of natural causes, it is at once set down that the defunct was bewitched. Even to-day the peasantry of many European countries believe that all disease is the work of demons. Sleep and trance are regarded as the temporary, death as the permanent, absence of the soul regarded as the vital principle, as the moral principle and as the intellectual principle. It may be diffused all through the body but can be con centrated in one organ (see HEAD-HUNTING). It inheres in each and every part in excreta and hair clippings and for safety may be hidden in some external object.

The

body's shadow or reflection is the soul, and subject to a malice of enemies. The soul is pictured as a man's breath (anima), and the word "breath" has become a synonym for life itself. The phrase "last breath" expresses the savage belief that there departs from the dying in the final expiration a something tangible, capable of separate existence—the soul. Myths account for its origin. Sometimes it is a "tabu" which has been broken and gives Death power over man. In India Yama, the god of Death, the first man, married his sister and thereby violated the funda mental law of exogamy, breach of which to this day in many cases still entails actual as well as civil death. In other myths, men were destined by Divine Mercy to be immortal but the mes senger of the glad tidings failed or erred.

See Sir J. G. Frazer, The Belief in Immortality, vol. i. (1913) , The Golden Bough (Perils of the Soul) .

Legal Requirements.

The registration of burials in England goes back to the time of Thomas Cromwell, who in 1538 in stituted the keeping of parish registers. Statutory measures were taken from time to time to ensure the preservation of registers of burials, but it was not until 1836 (the Births and Deaths Regis tration Act) that the registration of deaths became a national concern. The law for England was consolidated by the Births and Deaths Registration Acts 1874 and 1926. Under the former act, the registration of every death and the cause of the death is com pulsory. When a person dies in a house information of the death and the particulars required to be registered must be given within five days of the death to the registrar to the best of the person's knowledge and belief by one of the following persons :—(1) The nearest relative of the deceased present at the death, or in at tendance during the last illness of the deceased. If they fail, then (2) some other relative of the deceased in the same sub-district (registrar's) as the deceased. In default of relatives, (3) some person present at the death, or the occupier of the house in which, to his knowledge, the death took place. If all the above fail, (4) some inmate of the house, or the person causing the body of the deceased to be buried. The person giving the information must sign the register. Similarly, also, information must be given con cerning death where the deceased dies not in a house.

Where written notice of the death, accompanied by a medical certificate of the cause of death, is sent to the registrar, informa tion must nevertheless be given and the register signed within 14 days after the death by the person giving the notice or some other person as required by the act. Failure to give information of death, or to comply with the registrar's requisitions, entails a penalty not exceeding 4o shillings, and making false answers to any question put by the registrar relating to the particulars re quired to be registered, or making false statements with intent to have the same inserted in the register, is punishable either summarily with a penalty of £Io, or, on indictment, with penal servitude for seven years, or with imprisonment for two years with or without hard labour.

The registrar, upon registering the death, must forthwith give to the person giving the information a certificate under his hand that he has registered the death; but where he has received written notice of the death, accompanied by a medical certificate of the cause of death, he may, before registering the death and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, give to the person send ing the notice, if required to do so, a certificate under his hand that he has received notice of the death.

The body of the deceased cannot be disposed of before the certificate of the registrar, or order of the coroner, has been de livered to the person effecting the disposal, i.e., the person by whom the register of burials in which the disposal is to be registered is kept, or, in the case of a burial in a churchyard or graveyard of a parish or ecclesiastical district under the Burial Laws Amendment Act 188o, the relative, friend, or legal repre sentative who is responsible for the burial of the deceased. Where, however, the disposal is by burial, the person effecting the dis posal may proceed with the burial if satisfied by a written declara tion in prescribed form by the person procuring the disposal that a certificate or order has been issued. The person effecting the dis posal must, within 96 hours of the disposal, notify the registrar in the prescribed manner as to the date, place and means of disposal. The registrar, on the expiration of the prescribed period after the issue of a certificate by him or of a coroner's order, if no notifica tion as aforesaid has been previously received by him, must make inquiry of the person to whom the certificate or order was given; and such person must give information to the best of his knowl edge and belief as to the person having the custody of the certifi cate or order, the place where the body is lying, or, if disposed of, the person effecting the disposal.

It is the duty of the father or mother of a still-born child to give information to the registrar of the particulars required to be registered concerning the still-birth. Upon doing so, he or she must either (1) deliver to the registrar a written certificate that the child was not born alive, signed by a registered medical prac titioner or certified midwife who was in attendance at the birth or who has examined the body; or (2) make a declaration in pre scribed form to the effect that no such practitioner or midwife was present at the birth, or has examined the body, or that his or her certificate cannot be obtained and that the child was not born alive.

The registration of deaths at sea is regulated by the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1874 together with the Merchant Shipping Act Death can be proved by the production of a certified copy of the entry in the register of birth and deaths, which is evidence not only of the fact of death, but also of the date of death, the sex, rank, or profession of the dead person, and the cause of death.

Presumption of Death.

The fact of death may, in English law, be proved not only by direct but by presumptive evidence. When a person disappears and is not heard of for seven years, the presumption of law arises that he is dead (Nepean v. Doe, 1837, 2 M. and W. 894). In Scotland, by the Presumption of Life (Scotland) Act 1891, the presumption is statutory. In those cases where people disappear under circumstances which create a strong probability of death, the court may, for the purpose of pro bate or administration, presume the death before the lapse of seven years (see In the Goods of Matthews, 1898, p. 17) . The question of survivorship, where several persons are shown to have perished by the same calamity, has been much discussed. It was at one time thought that there might be a presumption of sur vivorship in favour of the stronger party. But it is now clear that there is no such presumption ; the question is one of fact depend ing wholly on evidence, and, if the evidence does not establish the survivorship of any one, all must be taken to have died at the same moment (Wing v. Angrave, 186o, 8. H. L. Cas. 183). This rule has been applied by the court of probate where husband and wife were both killed in a railway accident, and the bodies were found two hours afterwards, and administration was granted to their respective next of kin (In the Goods of Wheeler, 186i, 31 L. J. P. M. & A., 40) ; so also where husband and wife were proved to have been on board a ship which was supposed to have been lost at sea (In the Goods of Alston, 1892, p. 142).

Civil Death is an expression used in law in contradistinction to natural death. Formerly, a man was said to be dead in law (I) when he entered a monastery and became professed in religion; (2) when he abjured the realm; (3) when he was attainted of treason or felony. Since the suppression of the monasteries there has been no legal establishment for professed persons in England, and the first distinction has therefore disappeared, though for long after the original reason had ceased to make it necessary grants of life estates were usually made for the terms of a man's natural life. The act abolishing sanctuaries (1623) did away with civil death by abjuration; and the Forfeiture Act 1870, that on attainder for treason or felony.

For the statistics of the death-rate of Great Britain as compared with that of the various European countries see GREAT BRITAIN. See also ANNUITY ; CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ; CREMATION ; INSURANCE, Legal Registration.—It is generally provided that the State department of health shall have charge of the registration of deaths, shall provide the necessary forms and blanks for ob taining and preserving such records, and shall procure the faithful registration of each death. For this purpose the States are, as a general rule, divided into registration districts, sometimes called vital statistics registration districts, in each of which there is a registrar charged with the registration of births and deaths. In Massachusetts and in some other States this duty is imposed upon each town clerk.

It is provided by statute in most States that the body of any person whose death occurs in the State shall not be buried, cre mated, deposited in a vault or otherwise disposed of or removed from or into any registration district, or be temporarily held pending further disposition, more than 72 hours after death un less a permit for burial removal or other disposition shall have been properly issued by the registrar of the district. Whenever it is practicable, no such burial or removal permit shall be issued by any registrar until a complete and satisfactory certificate of death has been filed with him. If, however, a dead body is trans ported from one State into a district in another State, the transit or removal permit issued in accordance with the law of the place of death has the force of a burial permit. It is frequently re quired that the certificate of death shall be of the standard form recommended by the United States Bureau of the Census and adopted by the American Public Health Association and shall contain :—(1) the place of death, including the State, county, township, village or city; (2) the full name of the decedent. If an unnamed child, the surname preceded by "unnamed" ; (3) sex and colour or race—as white, black, mulatto, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.; (4) conjugal condition, whether single, married, widowed or divorced; (5) place and date of birth, including year, month and day; (6) age in years, months and days; (7) name of father and maiden name of mother; (8) birth-place of mother; (9) occupation; (io) signature and address of informant ; (I I) date of death, year, month and day; (12) statement of medical attendance on decedent, fact and time of death, including time last seen alive; (13) cause of death; (14) signature and address of physician or official making medical certificate ; (15) place and date of burial or removal; (16) signature and address of under taker; (17) official signature of registration with date when cer tificate was filed and registered number.

The personal statistical particulars should be authenticated by the signature of the informant, who should be the nearest of kin or other competent person acquainted with the facts. The state ment of the facts relating to the disposition of the body shall be signed by the undertaker. The medical certificate shall be made and signed by the legally qualified physician, if any, last in at tendance on the deceased. The cause of the death must generally be stated so as to show the disease or sequence of causes resulting in the death.

In regard to the registration of still-born children, in some jurisdictions the law provides that the child shall be registered as a birth and also as a death, and separate certificates of birth and death shall be filed with the registrar; in others, the still born child is merely registered as a death. A certificate is not required for a child that has not advanced to the fifth month of inter-gestation.

If a death occur without medical attendance, it is the duty either of the undertaker or other person who learns of the death to notify the local health officer. The latter immediately investi gates and certifies the cause of death. If, however, he has reason to believe that the death may have been due to unlawful act or neglect, he refers the case to the coroner for his investigation and certification. The undertaker must file the certificate of death with the local registrar, and obtain a burial or removal permit prior to any disposition of the body, which he delivers to the person in charge of the place of burial.

Presumption of Death.

The fact of death may, as a general rule, be proved by presumptive evidence. An unexplained absence of seven years at common law raised a presumption of death. This is still the period in most jurisdictions in this country, though a few have by statute adopted a shorter period, e.g., five years in Arkansas, and five years in Indiana for the sole purpose of authorizing the administration of an estate. Death may in some cases be presumed from the facts surrounding the disappearance indicating death within a shorter time than seven years. The English rule prevails in the United States that the presumption is of the fact of death only and not of the time of death. There are some cases, however, in which death has been presumed to have occurred at the expiration of the seven-year period.

Survivorship.

In the absence of circumstantial evidence, in the case of a common disaster, there is as a general rule, no pre sumption as to survivorship. In some States, however, there are codes embodying certain presumptions as to survivorship. Other wise, the law will treat the case as one to be established by evi dence, and the burden is placed on him who claims survivorship.