Ch.VIIL] Franchises. — Deodands. 153 $ume it on another occasion, as if he threw it on the ground, or other public place, or in the sea, the first finder is entitled to the property, as against every one but the owner, and the King's prerogative does not in this respect obtain {a). So that it is the hiding, and not the abandonment, of the property that entitles the King to it. It is the duty of every person who finds any treasure, to make it known to the coroners of the county. The punish- ment for concealing it is fine and imprisonment (6), • 14), By Deodands^ which are also in general a franchise in the hands of lords of manors and others, are to be understood either animals or inanimate things, which occasion the death of a human being, and these are forfeited to the King or his grantee. The superstition of former times designed them to be used as an expiation for the soul of the deceased, and in later times they were to be applied by his Majesty's almoner to pious uses [c). The forfeiture is rational, so far as it strength- ens the natural sensations of the mind at the sudden destruc- tion of human life. The rule is, that omnia qua movent ad mortem sunt deodanda : the forfeiture extends not merely to the article which more im- mediately occasioned the death, but also to such things as con- tributed, though remotely, to it, or rendered the wound more dangerous (d). Thus, if a cart run over a person and kill him, not only the cart but the luggage, &c. are forfeited, though the wheels were the more immediate cause of the fatal event (^). But a thing which in no respect contributed to the death is ndt forfeited, though annexed to an article which occasioned it ; and, therefore, where a person falls from the wheel of a carriage, which is not in motion, the wheel only is forfeited (f). So, if a man fall from the shafts of a waggon on which he was riding, the horses and waggon only are forfeited, and not the loading [g). And if a man riding on a horse over a river is (a) Britton, c. 17. Finch L. 171. 1 (rf) 1 Bla. Com. 301. ^ Bla. Com. 295. See Stra. 505. (e) Salk. 220. (/;) 3 Inst. 133. 1 Bla. Com. 296. (/) 3 Inst. 58. (0 3 Inst. 57. 5 Co. 110, b. 1 Bla. (g) Ibid. Com. 299. drowned,
