| 释义 |
forfeiture rule
A common law rule of public policy that in certain circumstances precludes a person who has unlawfully killed another from acquiring a benefit in consequence of the killing. The benefits to which the rule can apply include prima facie entitlements under a will or under the intestacy rules and social security benefits. It also effects a severance of a joint tenancy. The rule probably applies to all cases of unlawful killing or being an accessory to one, including driving offences and cases of manslaughter by reason of loss of control or diminished responsibility (Amos v Mancini [2020] EWHC 1063 (Ch)). But it will not apply where a person is not guilty by reason of insanity. By virtue of the Estates of Deceased Persons (Forfeiture Rule and Law of Succession) Act 2011, which is applicable to deaths on or after 1 February 2012, the intestacy rules and/or any will are applied as if the forfeiting person died immediately before the victim. The intention is to avoid disinheriting the innocent offspring or other beneficiaries of the forfeiting person, although the precise effect in the case of wills has caused some difficulty (Macmillan Cancer Support v Hayes [2017] EWHC 3110 (Ch)). The Forfeiture Act 1982 confers a wide power on a court to provide full or partial relief from forfeiture, and the Court of Appeal set out the correct approach to the Act in Dunbar v Plant [1998] Ch 412. A conviction is not necessary for either the application of the rule or relief from it, though relief is not available where the applicant “stands convicted” of murder. |