Probably because of the evident recklessness displayed by the coachman, a deodand of £1,400 was laid on the coach.
The jury imposed a deodand of £5 on the coach and £10 on the horses.
The deodand seems to have been looked upon as a species of rude penalty imposed on the use of dangerous appliances, a sharp reminder to the companies to look sharply after their locomotives and employes.
On the other hand, if death were caused by falling from a cart or a horse at rest, the law made the chattel a deodand if the person killed were an adult, but not if he were below the years of discretion.
As before and for centuries later, the deodand [any personal chattel which was the immediate cause of death] was forfeited "to God".
The coroner’s jury laid a deodand of £1,500 upon the engine, because there appeared to have been much negligence on the part of the officials.
The jury upon the inquest refused to return a verdict of manslaughter against the coachman, although directed to do so by the coroner; but put a deodand of £30 upon the coach and horses, in each case.
That will acquit you; but still, it will not help Joey; neither do I think you will be able to recover the gun, which I anticipate will become a deodand to the lord of the manor.
The deodand is philanthropic, it is religious, and it is so far clerical, that its value, when levied, was handed over to the clergy.
This practice, by the way, of levying a deodand in cases of railroad accidents resulting in loss of life, affords a curious illustration of how seldom those accidents must have occurred.
Like the wager of battle, the deodand was a feature of the English common law derived from the feudal period.
The deodand seems to have been looked upon as a species of rude penalty imposed on the use of dangerous appliances,--a sharp reminder to the corporations to look closely after their locomotives and employés.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "deodand" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
