The rules of forfeiture prevent those who have committed a crime against another person from benefitting from that person’s will or law of intestacy. The common law rules on forfeiture, however, are subject to exceptions which have not been clearly defined. The recent decision in Morris v Morris [2024] EWHC 2554 addressed the crime of assisted suicide in the context of forfeiture and showed considerable discretion by holding that accompanying the deceased to a suicide clinic will probably not engage the forfeiture rule, depending on the likelihood of a prosecution under the Suicide Act 1961. Any additional acts, however, that would amount to assisting a suicide under the 1961 Act (and under the new Assisted Suicide Bill 2024), would continue to engage the rule of forfeiture. This note will look at the rationale behind the Morris decision, its historical context, and how it provides some clarity to the field.
Brand, P. (2024, March 11) Overwhelming Majority Support Assisted Dying, Largest Ever Poll Says. ITV News. www.itv.com/news/2024-03-11/overwhelming-majority-support-assisted-dying-largest-ever-poll-says accessed 9 July 2025.
Crown Prosecution Service, Policy for Prosecutors in Respect of Cases of Encour-aging or Assisting Suicide (February 2010; revised October 2014). https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/suicide-policy-prosecutors-respect-cases-encouraging-or-assisting-suicide accessed 9 July 2025.
Parliament (2024) Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2024-25. https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3774 accessed 9 July 2025.
Lisa Cherkassky, University of Exeter.
Scott Atkins, Nottingham Trent University.
(2026). Assisted Suicide, Forfeiture and Public Policy. Legal issues Journal, 11 (2), https://www.legalissuesjournal.com/article/15426/
