I’m a author who delves deep into research for all my stories. Like other authors, I find all sorts of intriguing bits and pieces of life that never make it to the surface. Up until the early 1800s in Maryland, inanimate objects could be held liable for murder. Here’s a tale about this strange, little known piece of American (and English) history.

DEODAND: A THING THAT MUST BE OFFERED

The year: 1638. John Briant lies crumpled in the dirt, bleeding, with cuts and scratches. His body crushed into a broken bulk. Poor, poor John—nothing left except for his friend to write the obituary.

The place: Mattapany, Maryland. Who killed planter John Briant, and who shall pay? A careful examination of the crime scene shows John Briant pinned under a large, felled tree. A jury of twelve men upon their oath swears the tree killed John, and therefore the tree must pay.

The sacrificing of inanimate murderers of humans, probably steeped in superstition, dates back to the eleventh century. English Common Law referred to the fatal offending object, or to a lethal animal, as a deodand. This meant animals and nonliving assassins of humans, or their worth, must be handed over to the king and God. This ancient statute of deodand continued on in pre-colonial Maryland.

Debates over how much of the object must be confiscated ensued, because a family might rely on the confiscated object for their livelihood. If someone fell from a wagon, would the family need to forfeit the whole wagon, or just the offending wheel? Would they need to give up the horse that pulled the wagon, and what about the items within it? If a horse trampled a ploughman, the family could lose their means for cultivating fields. They could suffer a double hardship if the dead ploughman happens to be the father or son.

Sir William Blackstone, noted for his commentaries on eighteenth-century English Law, questioned how much of the object must be sacrificed. He concluded if a wagon wheel ran over a person, then only the wheel would become the deodand. If a person fell from the wagon, then the entire wagon must be given. Such clarification after six centuries must have eased the minds of many.

Then an ingenious invention challenged the law about inanimate objects and animals that murdered men and women. In 1804 the first steam locomotive hauled iron from Wales, after which the business of railroads expanded. Trains became ubiquitous, along with numbers of people who died from crossing the tracks. The absurdity of relinquishing each deadly train engine to the crown and God maddened railway companies. In 1846, the House of Lords and the House of Commons voted, and with Royal Assent, killed the ancient law of deodand. So now we all have learned a new word, and here’s a fact to go with this acquisition: a rich vocabulary is the best trait for identifying high intelligence.