Talk:Suicide Act 1961

The claim that s.2(1) states 'a man has a right to end his life if he finds it intolerable' is demonstrably false: see http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1961/cukpga_19610060_en_1 for the full text of the statute.

The law was changed solely to prevent prosecution for failed suicides on compassionate grounds (hence the word 'abrogated' being used), in so far as Parliament or English law expressed an opinion its clear that suicide remains malum in se (wrong in itself) and is not to be treated as a 'right'.

The article should be edited to reflect that.

Reply to 86.138.237.21: The Act also changed the liability for being an accessory to suicide from being an accessory to murder (because suicide was classified as self murder) into a substantive offence and reduced the penalty, which, taking into account the Homicide Act 1957, would have been at least imprisonment for life, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years. James500 (talk) 01:36, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Cut and paste from Murder in English law
I have cut the following passage from the above article as it appears to be relevant to the offence under section 2, and not murder:


 * In 2009 Debbie Purdy, who suffers from Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, launched a case to clarify whether or not her husband would risk being prosecuted over her death if he helped her travel to a Dignitas clinic at some future time, to die. The Law Lords agreed that the Director of Public Prosecutions had to provide legal clarity so that a person contemplating assisting another person to die could appreciate the circumstances in which might face charges, and this was done some months later.

James500 (talk) 02:23, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Opposition to reform?

 * Was there any significant opposition to reform of the legislation in question? One would think that the Catholic Church would have been, for instance.

Calibanu (talk) 00:07, 1 July 2013 (UTC)User Calibanu

Clarification needed re attempts
"the fact that it is legally impossible to commit the crime of suicide is irrelevant under the Criminal Attempts Act 1982 "

Does this mean that a person could (in theory) be prosecuted for unsuccessfully attempting suicide? Or not, as suicide is no longer a crime? I'm guessing probably the latter.Paulturtle (talk) 21:30, 28 March 2020 (UTC) Or does it mean that the intended victim could still be prosecuted for aiding and abetting his own attempted suicide (even though the suicide itself is not illegal)? By aiding and abetting withdrawal of life support, or by aiding and abetting criminal assaults to which the victim cannot in law consent (the R v Brown/Spanner principle)?Paulturtle (talk) 21:47, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

No mention of previous legislation it superseded
The context details do not mention the laws which made attempting suicide an offence in the first place. I well recall reports of court appearances for attempting suicide in local newspaper files as far back as the 19th century. When it became criminalised is surely a question many readers would have in their mind.Cloptonson (talk) 06:26, 31 August 2021 (UTC)

The act decriminalised the common law offence of felo de se. I have added more detail over at Suicide_legislation and added a 'See also' link here. It may be worth moving the analysis here and integrating it with the legislation page. --Abt21 (talk) 12:44, 19 February 2023 (UTC)