“ ‘Felo de se,’ or felon of himself is freely spoken of by the early writers as self-murder. Hence one who killed himself before he arrived at the age of discretion or while he was non compos mentis, was not a felo de se, or suicide…. [B]y the early common law suicide was a felony and was punished by ignominious burial and forfeiture of goods and chattels to the king.” Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 120 (3d ed. 1982).
felo de se
felo-de-se (fee-loh orfel-oh dee see), n. See SUICIDE(2).
