deodand means An object forfeited to the state (and supposedly to God) because it had caused the death of a person. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
DEODAND — [Noun] In historical English law, an object or animal that caused a person's death and was consequently forfeited to the Crown to be sold, with the proceeds applied to a pious use. From Anglo-Norman deodande, from Medieval Latin deodandum, from Latin Deo dandum ("a thing to be given to God"). Unlike a "forfeit"—a generic term for property confiscated as a secular penalty—or "blood money"—a compensatory payment to the victim's kin—a deodand was the animate or inanimate instrument of death itself, ritually surrendered to expiate its guilt. It was the cart-wheel that crushed a child, forfeited and sold; the ox that gored a man, its price converted to alms; the splintered timber of a collapsed mill-wheel, still damp from the river. In this archaic sacrament, the law bestowed a chilling soul upon the inanimate, seeking to wash blood from the world with coin.
noun
- An object forfeited to the state (and supposedly to God) because it had caused the death of a person.“Really, it’s hard not to wonder whether some current civil forfeiture practices represent much less than a revival of the archaic common-law deodand.”
- A fine equal to the value of this object, paid by the owner of the object.“pay the deodand”