The extinction of life; the departure of the soul from the body; defined by physicians as a total stoppage of the circulation of the blood, and a cessation of the animal and vital functions consequent thereon, such as respiration, pulsation, etc. In legal contemplation , it is of two kinds: (1) Xatural death, i. e., tlie extinction of life; (2) Civil death, which is that change in a person’s legal and civil condition which deprives him of civic rights and juridical capacities and qualifications , as natural death extinguishes his natural condition. It follows as a consequence of being attainted of treason or felony, in English law , and anciently of entering a monastery or abjuring the realm. The person in this condition is said to be civiliter mortuus , civilly dead, or dead in law. Baltimore v. Chester, 53 Vt. 310, 38 Am. Rep. 077; Avery v. Everett, 110 N. Y. 317, 18 N. E. 148, 1 L. IL A. 204, 0 Am. St. Hep. 308; In re Donnelly’s Estate, 125 Cal. 417, 58 Pac. 61, 73 Am. St. Uep. 62; Troup v. Wood, 4 Johns. Ch. (N. Y.) 24S; Coffee v. Haynes, 124 Cal. 561, 57 Pac. 4S2, 71 Am. St. Rep. 90. “Natural” death is also used to denote a death which occurs by the unassisted operation of natural causes, as distinguished from a “violent” death, or one caused or accelerated by the interference of human agency.
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