Death in Absentia
Death in absentia (or presumption of death) is a legal declaration that a person is deceased in the absence of remains (e.g., a corpse or skeleton) attributable to that person. Such a declaration is typically made when a person has been missing for an extended period of time and in the absence of any evidence that the person is still alive, or when the circumstances surrounding a person's disappearance overwhelmingly support the belief that the person has died (e.g., an airplane crash). A declaration that a person is dead resembles other forms of "preventive adjudication," such as the declaratory judgment.
Read more about Death in Absentia: Facts, Circumstances, and The "balance of Probabilities", Reappearance, Famous Cases
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Bruno Antony: Tell me, Judge, after you’ve sentenced a man to the chair, isn’t it difficult to go out and eat your dinner after that?
Judge Dolan: When a murderer is caught he must be tried, when he is convicted he must be sentenced, when he is sentenced to death he must be executed.
Bruno Antony: Quite impersonal, isn’t it?
Judge Dolan: So it is. Besides, it doesn’t happen every day.
Bruno Antony: So, few murderers are caught?”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)