" In France, despite the derision of Voltaire and Montesquieu, these laws lasted at least until 1770 and, indeed, were twice reinforced in the eighteenth century. The confiscation of the suicide’s property and defamation of his memory finally disappeared with the Revolution; suicide is not mentioned in the new penal code of 1791.5 Not so in England, where the laws concerning the confiscation of property were not changed until 1870, and an unsuccessful suicide could still be sent to prison as late as 1961.d "

― Al Álvarez , The Savage God: A Study of Suicide