SUICIDE (Lat. anus, oneself, cceclere, to kill). In Medical Jurisprudence. Self destruction.
This was once regarded by the common law as exclusively a felonious act: of late, however, it has been often treated as the result of insanity, to he followed by all the legal consequences of that dis ease, se far as it is practicable. That suicide may be committed by a person in the full enjoyment of his reason, there can he no doubt; nor can there be any doubt that it is often the result of unques tionable insanity. Between the two kinds of suicide here indicated, the medical jurist is obliged to dis criminate, and in performing this duty the facts en the subject should be carefully considered.
The instinct of self-preservation is not so strong as to prevent men entirely from being tired of life and seeking their own destruction. They may have exhausted all their sources of enjoyment, their plans of :business or of honor may have been frus trated, poverty or dishonor may be staring them in the face, the difficulties before them may seem utterly insurmountable, and, for some reason like these, they calmly and deliberately resolve to avoid the evil by ending their life. The aot may be un wise anil prosumptuous, hut there is in it no clement , of disease. On the other hand, it is well known that suicidal desires are a very common trait of' in sanity,—that it large proportion of the insane attempt or meditate self-destruction. It may be prompted by particular delusion, or hy sense of irritsistible neceifsity. It may be manifested in the shape of a well-oonsidered, persistent intention to seize upon the first opportunity to terminate life, or of a blind, automatic impulse acting without much regard to means or circumstances. As the disease gives way and rea.sen is restored, this pro pensity disappears, aod the love of life returns.
Besides these two forma of the suicidal propen sity, there are other phases which cannot be re ferred with any degret, of certainty to either of them. Persons, for inatance, in the enjoyment of every thing calculated to make life happy, and ex hibiting no sign of mental disease, deliberately end their days. Another olass, on approaching a precipice or a body of water, are seized with desire, which may be irresistible, to take the fatal plunge. Many are the cases of children who, after eomc mild reproof, or slight contradiction, or trivial disappointment, have gene at once to some retired place and taken their lives. Now, we are as little prepared to refer all such cases to mental disease as we are to free voluntary choice. Every case,
therefore, must be judged hy the oircumstanoes accompanying it, always allowing the benefit of the doubt to be given to the side of humanity and justice.
2. By the commnn law, suicide was treated as a crime, and the person forfeited all chat tdIs real or personal, and various other property. 4 Blackstone, Comm. 190. This result can be avoided by establishing the in sanity of the party ; and in England, of late years, courts have favored this course when ever the legal effect of suicide would operate as a punishment. On the other hand, where the nghts and interests of other parties are involved, the question of insanity is more closely scrutinizea ; and ample proof is re. quired of tbe party on whom the burden of proof lies.
In regard to wills made just before cam mitting. suicide, the prevalent doctrine on this point, both in the United States and in England, is that the act of self-destruction may not necessarily imply insanity, and that if the will is a rational act, rationally done, tbe sanity of the testator is established. 7 Pick. Mass. 94 ; 1 Hagg. Eccl. 109 ; 2 Harr. Del. 583 ; 2 Eccl. 415.
In regard to life-insurance, it is the law of England, at present, that in every case of intentional suicide, whatever rnay have been the mental condition, the policy becomes void, 3 Mann. & G. 437 : 5 id. 639 ; 4 All. Mass. 96. See Wharton, Mental Unsoundness ; Phil lips, Ins.
3. In cases of rcrsons found dead, the cause may not be always perfectly- obvious, and it becomes necesrary to determinewhether death was an act of suicide, or murder. This is often one of the most d.flicult questions in the whole range of tnedical jurisprudence, requiring for its solution the most profound knowledge of surgery and physiology, and great practical sagacity. In case ut death caused by wounds, the kind and situation of the weapon, the extent, direction, and situa tion of the wounds, their connection viith marks of blows, the temper and disposition of the person, all these and many other cir cumstances mm.t be carefully and intelligently investigated. The frequency witb which cases of suicide strongly resemble, in their external characters, those of murder, renders neces sary the highest degree of skill and careful discriminatien. It one counsels another to commit suicide, and is. present at the con summation of the act, it is rnurder iu the prin cipal. 13 Mass. 359 ; Russ. & R. Cr. Cas. 523.