Opinion ID: 1852242
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: History of Wrongful Death Cause of Action

Text: Many believe the English common law did not recognize suits for wrongful death, thus requiring legislative enactment to establish and shape the cause of action. Curiously enough, the assumption that no precedent exists in the English common law for wrongful death claims has been largely unexamined by the American courts that adopted it simply because of blind obedience to precedent. [22] As will be seen, the precedent relied upon is a long line of cases which incorrectly assumed there was no precedent for the common law claim. The fact is, a variety of civil wrongful death claims were allowed under the English common law, going back at least as far as the Middle Ages and the Norman Conquest in 1066, including the wer, [23]  the wite, [24]  and the appeal of murdrum. [25] 1 William Holdsworth, A History Of English Law 18-22 (5th ed.1956). English history is rich with examples of various wrongful death claims which ebbed, flowed and evolved over time. The confusion began in 1808, when England's eight-hundred year history which had certainly recognized wrongful death claims was abruptly, and inexplicably, changed. Turning deaf ears and blind eyes to English history, Lord Ellenborough [26] handed down Baker v. Bolton, 1 Camp. 493, 170 Eng. Rep. 1033 (Nisi Prius 1808). History characterizes Baker as wrongly decided, and an egregious adulteration of English wrongful death law. [27] The plaintiff's wife in Baker was killed in a stagecoach accident. At the conclusion of the resulting trial, Lord Ellenborough instructed the jury that damages would be limited to loss of society and suffering from the time of the accident until death (approximately one month). He then, without citation of authority or explanation, declared that, [i]n a civil court, the death of a human being could not be complained of as an injury. Id. Lord Ellenborough's erroneous decision [28] prevailed for only thirty-eight years, when the British Parliament overcame it with Lord Campbell's Act (Fatal Accidents Act), 1846, 9 & 10 Vict., c. 93. Since that time, numerous jurisdictions in the United States have followed suit with variations of Lord Campbell's Act, together with companion survival statutes. [29] Mississippi joined the parade in 1857. Nine years following the 1808 Baker decision, Mississippi gained statehood, and adopted its first of four Constitutions. Since that date forward (as discussed in Appendix B), the judicial power in Mississippi has been vested by our Constitution in this Supreme Court. Thus, this Court could have recognized a common law cause of action for wrongful death, despite the thirty-eight year hiatus created by Lord Ellenborough's blunder in Baker. The direction this Court would have taken, had the issue been raised, is not clear. No Mississippi case, commentary or legislative enactment, concerning wrongful death, can be found in the early years of the Nineteenth Century. Nevertheless, for reasons we are unable to learn, [30] the legislature enacted Mississippi's first wrongful death statute in 1857.