"His neighbour, he found, had for some time been telling him about the nice distinctions to be found in English law. '...it is much the same with deodands, he continued. 'If a man leap on to a cart in motion, however slight that motion may be, and miss his footing so that he break his neck, then the cart and all it contains is a deodand, forfeit to the King. But in the case of a cart that is standing still, while the man climbs up by the wheel, and climbing falls to his death, the wheel alone is deodand.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 60
"His neighbour, he found, had for some time been telling him about the nice distinctions to be found in English law. '...it is much the same with deodands, he continued. 'If a man leap on to a cart in motion, however slight that motion may be, and miss his footing so that he break his neck, then the cart and all it contains is a deodand, forfeit to the King. But in the case of a cart that is standing still, while the man climbs up by the wheel, and climbing falls to his death, the wheel alone is deodand.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 60