By the early nineteenth century, the ancient remedy of deodands had largely fallen into desuetude.

[1] As a result, coroners' juries started to award deodands as a way of penalising the railways.

The railway accident at Sonning Cutting (1841) was a particularly notorious example, in which deodands of £1,100 (equivalent to £92,000 in 2016) in total were made on the engine (Hecla), and the trucks.

[2] This alerted legislators, in particular Lord Campbell and the Select committee on Railway Labourers (1846).

The latter proposal, which became law as the Deodands Act 1846, to some extent mitigated railway hostility.