SUGGESTIVE INTERROGATION. This phrase has been used by some writers to signify the same thing as leading question. (q. v.) 2 Benth. on Ev. b. 3, c. 3. It is used in the French law. Vide Question.

SUI JURIS. One who has all the rights to which a freemen is entitled; one who is not under the power of another, as a slave, a minor¹, and the like.

2. To make a valid² contract, a person must, in general, be sui juris. Every one of full age is presumed to be sui juris. Story on Ag. p. 10.

SUICIDE, crimes, med. jur. The act of malicious³ self-murder; felo de se. (q. v.) 3 Man. Gran. & Scott, 437, 457, 458; 1 Hale, P. C.. 441. But it has been decided⁴ in England that where a man's life was insured, and the policy contained a proviso that "every policy effected by a person on his or her own life should be void, if such person should commit suicide, or die by duelling or the hands of justice," the terms of the condition included all acts of voluntary self-destruction, whether the insured at the time such act was committed, was or was not a moral responsible agent. 3 Man. Gr. & Scott, 437. In New York it has been held, that an insane person cannot commit suicide, because. such person has no will. 4 Hill' 3 R. 75.

2. It is not punishable it is believed in any of the United States, as the unfortunate object of this offence is beyond the reach of human tribunals, and to deprive his family of the property he leaves would be unjust.

3. In cases of sudden death, it is of great consequence to ascertain⁵, on finding the body, whether the deceased has been murdered, died suddenly of a natural death, or whether he has committed suicide. By a careful examination of the position of the body, and of the circumstances attending it, it can be generally ascertained⁶ whether the deceased committed suicide, was murdered, or died a natural death. But there are sometimes cases of suicide which can scarcely be distinguished⁷ from those of murder. A case of suicide is mentioned by Doctor Devergie, (Annales d'Hygiene, transcribed⁸ by Trebuchet, Jurisprudence de la Medecine, p. 40,) which bears a striking analogy to a murder. The individuul went to the cemetery⁹ of Pere la Chaise, near Paris, and with a razor inflicted¹⁰ a wound on himself immediately below the os hyoide; the first blow penetrated¹¹ eleven lines in depth; a second, in the wound made by the first, pushed the instrument to the depth of twenty-one lines; a third extended as far as the posterior of the pharynx, cutting the muscles which attached the tongue to the oshyoide, and made a wound of two inches in depth. Imagine an enormous wound, immediately under the chin, two inches in depth, and three inches and three lines in width, and a foot in circumference¹²; and then judge whether such wound could not be easily mistaken as having been made by a stranger, and not by the deceased. Vide Death, and 1 Briand, Med. Leg. 2e partie, c. 1, art. 6.

SUIT. An action. The word suit in the 25th section of the judiciary act of 1789, applies to any proceeding¹³ in a court of justice, in which the plaintiff pursues, in such court, the remedy which the law affords him. An application for a prohibition¹⁴ is therefore a suit. 2 Pet. 449. According to the code of practice of Louisiana, art. 96, a suit is a real, personal or mixed demand, made before a competent judge, by which the parties pray to obtain their rights, and a decision of their disputes. In that acceptation, the words suit, process and cause, are in that state almost synonymous. Vide Secta, and Steph. Pl. 427; 3 Bl. Com. 395; Gilb. C. P. 48; 1 Chit. Pl. 399; Wood's Civ. Law, b. 4, c. p. 315; 4 Mass. 263; 18 John. 14; 4 Watts¹⁵, R. 154; 3 Story, Const. §1719. In its most extended sense, the word suit, includes not only a civil action, but also a criminal prosecution¹⁶, as indictment¹⁷, information, and a conviction by a magistrate¹⁸. Ham. N. P. 270.