The extinction of life; the departure of the soul from the body; defined by physicians as a total stoppage of the circulation of the blood, and a cessation of the animal and vital functions consequent thereon, such as respiration, pulsation, etc.
In legal contemplation, it is of two kinds: 1) Natural death, i.e., the extinction of life; 2) Civil death, which is that change in a person’s legal and civil condition which deprives him of civic rights and juridical capacities and qualifications, as natural death extinguishes his natural condition. It follows as a consequence of being attainted of treason or felony, in English law, and anciently of entering a monastery or abjuring the realm. The person in this condition is said to be civiliter mortuus, civilly dead, or dead in law. Baltimore v. Chester, 53 Vt. 319, 38 Am. Rep. 677; Avery v. Everett, 110 N. Y. 317, 18 N. E. 148, 1 L. It. A. 264, 6 Am. St. Rep. 368; In re Donnelly’s Estate, 125 Cal. 417, 58 Pac. 61, 73 Am. St. Rep. 62; Troup v. Wood, 4 Johns. Ch. (N. Y.) 248; Coffee v. Haynes, 124 Cal. 561, 57 Pac. 482, 71 Am. St Rep. 99.”Natural” death is also used to denote a death which occurs by the unassisted operation of natural causes, as distinguished from a “violent” death, or one caused or accelerated by the interference of human agency.
Death warrant. A warrant from the proper executive authority appointing the time and place for the execution of the sentence of death upon a convict judicially condemned to suffer that penalty.
Death watch. A special guard set to watch a prisoner condemned to death, for some days before the time for the execution, the special purpose being to prevent any escape or any attempt to anticipate the sentence.