Civil death

Civil death

Civil death (Latin: civiliter mortuus)[1] is a term that refers to the loss of all or almost all civil rights by a person due to a conviction for a felony or due to an act by the government of a country that results in the loss of civil rights. It is usually inflicted on persons convicted of crimes against the state or adults determined by a court to be legally incompetent because of mental disability.[2]

In medieval Europe, felons lost all civil rights upon their conviction. This civil death often led to actual death, since anyone could kill and injure an ex-felon with impunity.[3] In the old German Empire, a person declared civilly dead was called "vogelfrei" ("free as a bird") and could even be killed since they were completely outside the law.[4]

Historically outlawry, that is, declaring a person as an outlaw, was a common form of civil death.[4]

In the US, the disenfranchisement of felons or ex-felons has been called a form of civil death;[5] see also loss of rights due to felony conviction.

Notes and references

  1. ^ http://www.law-dictionary.org/CIVILITER+MORTUUS.asp?q=CIVILITER+MORTUUS
  2. ^ See e.g. Interdiction of F.T.E., 594 So.2d 480 (La. App. 2d Cir. 1992).
  3. ^ Manza, Jeff and Uggen, Christopher. Punishment and Democracy: Disenfranchisement of Nonincarcerated Felons in the United States. 'Perspectives on Politics.' Page 492. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3688812
  4. ^ a b Article "Death, Civil;" Encyclopædia Americana, 1830 ed, page 138
  5. ^ Greenhouse, Linda (July 29, 2010). "Voting Behind Bars". The New York Times. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/voting-behind-bars/. 



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  • civil death — noun Date: 1719 the status of a living person equivalent in its legal consequences to natural death; specifically deprivation of civil rights …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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