From http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5997&context=nclr http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5...: A person who

From http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5997&context=nclr http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5...: A person who committed suicide was punished at common law by burial in the public highway with a stake driven through his body and by forfeiture of his goods and chattels to the king.