1. By the dispensation of God; by reason of physical incapacity. • Anciently, when a prisoner who was being arraigned stood silently instead of pleading, a jury was impaneled to inquire whether the prisoner obstinately stood mute or was dumb ex visitatione Dei.
2. By natural causes as opposed to violent ones. • This phrase sometimes appears in a coroner’s report when death results from a disease or another natural cause.
