Parricide

Parricide (Lat. paricida) is rather a popular than a legal term. In the Roman law it comprehended every one who murdered a near relative; but in English the term is usually confined to the murderer of one's father, or of one who is in loco parentis. The parricide does not, in any respect, differ in Britain from the murderer of a stranger; in both cases the punishment is death by hanging. In the Roman law a parricide was punished in a much more severe manner, being sewed up in a leather sack, along with a live cock, viper, dog, and ape, and cast into the sea.