At common law suicide was a felony. Though the person who took his life was personally beyond the reach of the law, there were consequences. The property of a suicide was forfeit and this would have affected his family. The confiscation of the property of suicides was put to an end with the general abolition of forfeiture for felony by the Forfeiture Act, 1870.
From earliest times a person (termed a felo de se, or felon of himself) who committed suicide could not be buried in consecrated ground, a person who took their own life was buried on the highway, with a stake through his body and his goods were forfeited. From 1824 a suicide was buried between the hours of nine and twelve at night, without any religious service. This changed with the Internments (felo de se) Act, 1882. where every penalty was removed except that internment could not be solomised by a burial service.
In R v. Abbot (1903), it was held that if two parties mutually agree to commit suicide, and only one accomplishes that object, the survivor is guilty of murder (and thus liable to suffer the penalty for murder, which at that time was death by hanging). This was (and still is) known as a suicide pact. In England there is a legislative definition of a sucicide pact section 4(3) of the Homicide Act, 1957, provides that it is “a common agreement between two or more persons having for its object the death of all of them, whether or not each is to take his own life, but nothing done by a person who enters into a suicide pact shall be treated as done by him in pursuance of the pact unless it is done while he has the settled intention of dying in pursuance of the pact.”.
The modern law on sucicide is contained in
The Criminal Law (Suicide) Act, 1993 at section 2 provides:
(1) Suicide shall cease to be a crime.
(2) A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to commit suicide, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.
(3) If on the trial of an indictment for murder, murder to which section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1990 applies or manslaughter, it is proved that the the person charged aided, abetted, counselled or procured the suicide of the person alleged to have been killed, he may be found guilty of an offence under this section.
(4) No proceedings shall be instituted for an offence under this section except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Where suicide has taken place or been attempted, three possible offences may have been committed: murder, manslaughter, or aiding or abetting suicide.
Where A actually killed V (most likely at the request of V), the offence is murder. The mens rea the intention to kill is the same as in the case of murder.
Where A and B enter into a suicide pact and A survives, A cannot be guilty of attempted suicide (there being no such offence). A may be guilty of murder or manslaughter at the most, or of aiding and abetting suicide at the least. However the proving of either could be difficult. In England by statute# it shall be manslaughter and not murder, where the circumstance warrant it.
The provisions of section 9(2) of the Criminal Law Act, 1997 (see below) facilitate a conviction for any of the offences.
Aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring suicide
This is the principal offence specific to suicide and carrying a penalty of fourteen years imprisonment. The words “aids, abets, counsels or procures”, are those that define secondary participation in a crime as contained in section 7(1) of the Criminal Law Act, 1997. The meaning of the words should be the same, see the comments of Lord Widgery C.J. at page xx. It is the view of Smith# that advising a person to commit suicide does not amount to abetting or counselling unless and until such person does commit suicide. A suggestion would be councilling. Where V had swallowed crushed pills and become drowsy, and A suggested that he place a gas-filled bag over his head. In the English case of Attorney General v. Able#, it was held that the distribution of a booklet giving advice on how to commit suicide was not an offence under section 2 of the Suicide Act, 1961 (which is similar to the provision in Ireland). A person who runs a website which gives advice would not commit the offence, but where a website advocates suicide the person running the site would be liable.
It is not necessary that a suicide be successful for a conviction, as aiding etc., an attempt is punishable. Where A aids V to commit suicide, it makes no difference to A’s guilt whether or not V survives. The omission to act to deter a suicide is an important issue for consideration where a suicide takes place. There are two aspects of omission, the omission to act where it stands on it’s own, an omission where it may amount to aiding etc.. An omission to act stands on its own in relation to involuntary manslaughter. Here (and see the consideration of involuntary manslaughter above) where a person owes a legal duty and there is a failure to perform that legal duty there is manslaughter. However in the case of manslaughter death is not intended, in the case of suicide it is. There are many categories of persons who owe such a legal duty, many such persons are instantly recognisable. Might an omission to perform a legal duty in circumstance of suicide give rise to a new species of manslaughter, or is it simply murder? How might an omission amount to aiding and abetting? An omission to take necessary medication could hardly be so. Would an omission to give necessary medication amount to such, in circumstances it could, but where there was a refusal by V it is less likely.
The offence of aiding and abeting suicide is triable only on indictment and no proceedings may be instituted without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Trial of offences
It is clear that the circumstances of a death may give rise to one of many homicide and related offfences, accordingly there is statutory provision for an accused where charged with a particular offence to be convicted of a related offence.
The Criminal Law Act, 1997, at section 9(2) provides:
If, on an indictment for murder, the evidence does not warrant a conviction for murder but warrants a conviction for any of the following offences-
(a) manslaughter, or causing grievous bodily harm with intent to do so, or
(b) any offence of which the accused may be found guilty by virtue of an enactment specifically so providing (including section 7 (3)), or
(c) an attempt to commit murder, or an attempt to commit any other offence under this section of which the accused might be found guilty, or
(d) an offence under the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act, 1993, the accused may be found guilty of such offence but may not on that indictment be found guilty of any offence not specified in any of the foregoing paragraphs.
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