The Privy Council last week delivered judgment in a very
curious case. Rajah Kristonath Rai, of Calcutta, in 1844, was said to have committed a murder- Accused and arrested, he hanged himself. A jury brought in a verdict of fele* de se, and the Government seized his personalty within Calcutta. His widow brought an action in the Supreme Court, and won it; but Government appealed. The Judicial Committee have now decided that Government has no right to the money, in- asmuch as " crowner's quest law," like the law of bigamy, cannot apply to a place where, Christianity not being accepted, it would be obviously unjust. The law of suicide even in England is, in fact, ta.,relic of the old system under which every subject was held to be a soldier of the King, and liable for self-mutilation or attempted suicide. At presEnt it is not only absurd but injurious. Suicide is a sin, but it is not a crime ; if the attempt succeeds it cannot be punished, and if it fails, the fear of a prosecution is only an extra reason for trying again. The only effect of the law is to induce juries to perjure themselves by verdicts of insanity upon people who knew perfectly well what they were doing, and why they did it.
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