united-kingdom death
Is being dead considered a valid alibi?
<p>If someone would legally be considered DEAD for a period of time¹ and during that period of time they would commit an illegal act, in the UK, could they, during a lawsuit, claim to be innocent because they were dead and thus couldn't have done anything, let alone something illegal?</p>

<p>¹A doctor declared them dead after an injury but they recovered without anyone knowing. (<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/sideshow/judge-tells-living-man-that-he%E2%80%99s-still-legally-dead-201043615.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">living people can be legally dead</a>)</p>

<p>An alibi in itself isn't necessarily a trump card. A legal declaration that you were dead despite being self-evidently alive doesn't seem a persuasive alibi.</p>

<p>The word 'alibi' is Latin, meaning "somewhere else".</p>

<p>So the basic premise is that by proving you were somewhere else at the exact time of the crime, you inequivocally prove that you could not have committed the criminal act.</p>

<p>This does not imply you are innocent. You could, for example, have hired someone else to commit the actual act.</p>

<p>It also implies that merely stating you were legally dead at the time, is not an alibi, as 'legally dead' refers to a state of <em>existence</em>, not of <em>location</em>.</p>

<p>Now, being legally dead might make it impossible for you to legally perform certain actions, like signing a contract, which might lead to the justice system being unable to pronounce you guilty of some crime. But that would not be an 'alibi'.</p>
