The bloody hand may not inherit: Why Hong Kong killer Henry Chau will not get a cent from the estate of his parents

The brother of murderer Henry Chau has begun court proceedings to ensure he does not inherit anything from the parents he murdered.

It is a principle of the common law that "the bloody hand does not inherit". If a person unlawfully kills another, then the common law does not permit the killer to inherit anything from the victim: this applies to murder and manslaughter. If the killer inherited the property before his culpability was discovered, then the property would be held by the killer in a constructive trust for the victim's estate.

A famous example of this common law principle at work was the case of Dr Crippen. In 1897, the American homeopath and patent medicine salesman Hawley Harvey Crippen, who used the title doctor, had moved to England with his wife Cora, a music hall entertainer. Cora disappeared after a party at their family home. Crippen claimed Cora had returned to America. Shortly after her disappearance, Crippen's mistress Ethel Neave moved into the family home.

Cora's friends asked police to investigate her disappearance, but nothing was found after the home was searched and Crippen was interviewed. The police were satisfied that nothing untoward had happened, but Crippen and Neave panicked and fled to Belgium. Later they boarded an ocean liner bound for Canada. The police began further searches and found a bricked-up area of the basement with a human corpse. Although the corpse had no head or limbs, the police identified the remains as those of Cora.

The pair crossed the Atlantic on the liner with Neave disguised as a boy. The ship's captain was suspicious and used a wireless telegraph to notify British police that he had someone on board resembling Crippen. Police apprehended the two when they reached Canada, and Crippen became known as the first murderer apprehended by way of wireless telegraphy.

Cora had died without leaving a will and Crippen was therefore the beneficiary of her estate. Crippen had executed a will leaving all his estate to his mistress. In an action for probate, Crippen's personal representative was passed over in favour of Cora's next of kin. The judge, Sir Samuel Evans, stated: "It is clear that the law is, that no person can obtain, or enforce, any rights resulting to him from his own crime … The human mind revolts at the very idea that any other doctrine could be possible."