User:Aletheiafri/sandbox

Suicide was a severe crime in Tudor and early Stuart England. Self-killing was a species of murder, a sin not only in the eyes of the church but also defined by criminal law. The State of mind of self-Killers at the time that they committed their fatal deed was crucial. To be judged guilty of self-murder, one had to be sane. Men and women who killed themselves when they are mad or otherwise mentally incompetent were not conceived innocent. The verdict would made by juries.

The penalties for suicide used in England is originated in the ancient world and evolved gradually into their early modern form; similar laws and customs existed in many parts of Europe. Born of the domestic beliefs, the ritual of punishing suicide, which is usually concerned with the suicidal corpse, embodies the notion that suicide is polluting, and that the suicide should be ostracized from the community of the living and the dead. The theological and legal severity increased in the High middle Age. Medieval theologian, Thomas Aquinas extended Angustine's arguments against suicide, and added the new meaning of 'violation the natural law' to it. Most western European governments began to promulgated laws to confiscate some of a suicide's property.