Deodand (Lat. Deo dandum, a thing to be given to God). A superstitious practice prevailed in England from the earliest time until very recently, whereby a chattel which had been the immediate instrument or cause of death to a human being was forfeited to the king, to be applied by him to pious uses. Omnia quoe movent ad mortem sunt Deo danda (all things which are the moving cause of death are to be offered to God), is the rule stated by Bracton. It is supposed by Blackstone that the origin of this practice was the religious doctrine of making expiation for the souls of such as were carried off by sudden death. A singular distinction was made between an infant and an adult, viz. : that an infant falling from a cart or horse not in motion, there was no forfeiture; whereas in the case of an adult the horse or cart was a deodand. Yet if a horse or other animal should of his own motion kill either an infant or adult, or if a cart should run over him, in either case the animal or cart was forfeited as a deodand.

Another rule equally inexplicable was, that when a thing not in motion was the occasion of a man's death, only that part which was the immediate cause was forfeited; but if the thing was in motion, then the whole was forfeited; as, if a man was run over by a cart wheel, the whole cart was a deodand. It made no difference although the owner of the chattel was not in fault. The law of deodand was not applied in cases of felonious homicides, and it is now abolished by statute 9 and 10 Victoria, c. 62.