Felo de se (from Medieval Latin fel[l]ō dē sē, "felon of him-/herself") was a concept applied against the personal estates (assets) of adults who ended their own lives.[1] Early English common law, among others, by this concept considered suicide a crime—a person found guilty of it, though dead, would ordinarily see penalties including forfeiture of property to the monarch and a shameful burial. Beginning in the seventeenth century precedent and coroners' custom gradually deemed suicide temporary insanity—court-pronounced conviction and penalty to heirs were gradually phased out.
Such judgment and penalties had taken in any deceased, lawfully killed for self-defence or defence of another, committing a felony.