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This version of this statute is extracted from the UK Statute Law Database (SLD). It is not necessarily in the form in which it was originally enacted but is a revised version, which means that any subsequent amendments to the text and other effects are incorporated with annotations.
An Act to amend the law of England and Wales relating to suicide, and for purposes connected therewith.
[3rd August 1961]
The rule of law whereby it is a crime for a person to commit suicide is hereby abrogated.
(1)A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to commit suicide, shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.
(2)If on the trial of an indictment for murder or manslaughter it is proved that the accused aided, abetted, counselled or procured the suicide of the person in question, the jury may find him guilty of that offence.
(3)The enactments mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments provided for in the second column (which preserve in relation to offences under this section the previous operation of those enactments in relation to murder or manslaughter).
(4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1no proceedings shall be instituted for an offence under this section except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
F1Words repealed by Criminal Law Act 1967 (c. 58), Sch. 3 Pt. II and Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1975 (c. 59), Sch. 6 Pt. I
C1S. 2(4) explained by Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1975 (c. 59), s. 12
(1)This Act may be cited as the Suicide Act 1961.
(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
(3)This Act shall extend to England and Wales only, except as regards the amendments made by Part II of the First Schedule and except that the Interments (felo de se) Act 1882, shall be repealed also for the Channel Islands.
F1S. 3(2), Sch. 2 repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1974 (c. 22), Sch. Pt. XI
Suicide Act 1961