Dear Patrick,
even today there is something called a 'dying declaration' which can be
admissible as evidence in a court of law. One of the key criteria for its
admissibility is that the person making the statement must be aware that
they have no hope of even short-term survival. Unfortunately I have no idea
how far this goes back. Time to revisit the stacks. That's what I like
about this discussion group. It makes me question things I would otherwise
take for granted. (It even got me going through the Domesday Book indexes
once). I have known for ages that deathbed statements were taken seriously,
but had never really thought about where that attitude came from.
Thank you for raising the point. Do let me know if someone else delivers
the goods,
Regards,
John A.W. Lock
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: deathbed declarations
> In a message dated 10-26-1999 9:08:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> > However these are legacies and not declarations. I have it in the back
of
> > my mind that condemned criminals were mindful to clear the decks when
> > execution was imminent but trying to pull an example out of a hat is
going
> > to
> > be difficult. I suspect I have seen them in the published Elizabethan
> > assize circuit accounts so it won't be a medieval example.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > John A.W. Lock
>
> Thanks John. I seem to recall a few blurbs in the newspapers about cases
> where "the real criminal" confessed on his death bed, and it seemed to be
> assumed he was telling the truth because a dying person has nothing to
gain
> by lying. But of course that's a goofy assumption, because the person
could
> be lying to protect someone else. Then there's the related idea that if
you
> promise something to a dying person, it's especially important to carry
out
> the promise. In Joyce's _Ulysses_, Stephen refuses to kneel and pray when
> his dying mother asks him to. And we're asked to weigh which is more
> important--his principles or that he should have done what his mother
asked
> because she was dying. Maybe the underlying premise has something to do
with
> the solemnity of the deathbed. The Last Rites of the Catholic Church are
> maybe related, though I don't know exactly what's said.
>
> I was actually trying to understand 2 Sam. 23.2, where David says "The
spirit
> of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue." That's a pretty
bold
> assertion, because he's actually identifying himself as a conduit for the
> word of God...I suppose in Psalms.I don't think he meant to imply he was,
so
> to speak, speaking ex cathedra when he went chasing after Bathsheba. In
any
> case, he's supposed to have made this statement when he was dying, and I
> was wondering if it's status as a deathbed declaration would carry special
> weight for a Medieval reader, or lend weight to what might otherwise be
seen
> as a prepostrous or fanciful assertion. I think maybe it would, but it's
> hard to explain why. As people aren't coming up with commentary on the
issue
> by Augustine or Ireneus, maybe it's just a very old folk belief that still
> seems to carry a certain amount of weight today.
>
> pat sloane
>
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