Suicide, in law, felo de se, the intentional taking of one's own life. Among uncivilized peoples suicide is by no means unknown, though generally regarded as uncommon. It is favored by the teaching of some Oriental religions, but expressly forbidden by the Koran. Aristotle condemned suicide as unmanly. The Romans, also affected by Stoic doctrine, recognized many legitimate reasons for suicide and punished with confiscation of property only suicides committed to escape punishment for a grave crime. To St. Augustine suicide was essentially a sin, and several church councils, from the 5th century, deprived the corpse of the ordinary rites of the church.
Medieval law usually provided confiscation of the suicide's property, while custom decreed indignities to the corpse, such as dragging by the heels face downward, as in France, or burying at the crossroads with a stake through the body, as in England. Later English law compelled forfeiture of lands and goods in all cases of suicide, but the requirement came to be frequently evaded through the granting of a coroner's verdict of insanity, and the law itself was abolished in 1870. A statute of 1823 made it legal to bury suicides in consecrated ground, but it was not till 1882 that religious services were expressly permitted. In France at the present time neither suicide nor attempt at suicide is punishable.
In the United States suicide is unlawful in many States, and an unintentional killing of another during an attempt at self-destruction is homicide. An attempt at suicide is a common-law misdemeanor, and in some States a felony by statute. In New York, aiding a suicide is manslaughter in the first degree, and the attempt itself by a sane person was a crime until the law was repealed, effective Sept. 1, 1919.
Social causes often cause a marked increase in the suicide rate. This occurred, for instance, among young people in Germany after World War I.
