The point has mostly arisen for argument in cases where it is desired to set aside a marriage, on the ground that suicide quickly following matrimony is evidence that there has been an absence of a sound mind, able to make a marriage contract; or when suicide has immediately followed the making of a will; in these cases also it has been argued that the mere fact that suicide has taken place is proof of mental disease, and conclusive reason for setting such a document aside.
Persons desirous of full information on these topics should consult the reports of the cases here mentioned, viz.:─
McAdam v. Walker, 1 Dow. P.C. 148; in this suit the marriage was upheld, although the bridegroom killed himself the same day.
Burrows v. Burrows, 1 Hagg. Eccles. Rep. 109. In this case the will of the testator, who destroyed himself, was upheld, although the act was committed only three days after signing the will.
In the suit of Chambers v. Queen’s Proctor, 2 Curt. 415, the will was held to be good, although suicide was committed the day after the signature of the will, and notwithstanding that it was proved by evidence that the testator had suffered from delusions three days before death.
Steed v. Calley, 1 Keen, 620, Regina v. Rumball, in 1843, and Regina v. Farley, in 1844, are other instances of the existence of insanity not being held to be proved by subsequent suicide.
[CHAPTER VII.]
PRESENT SUICIDE RATE AND INCREASE.
It is a matter of the greatest difficulty to obtain recent statistics of the actual numbers of suicides, either in our own country, or in the Continental States.
Each nation has its own methods of obtaining these statistics, and its own modes of tabulation, and those variations render it very difficult to procure figures for comparison.