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Definition of: deodand
(dē′ə·dand) noun
1. A thing given or forfeited to God.
2. In early English law, any personal chattel that had been immediately instrumental in causing the death of a person, and was therefore forfeited to the crown for pious uses: abolished in 1846. [<LL deo-dandum <L deus god + dandum, gerundive of dare give]
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