The Impact of the Death of the Intentional Murderer in Constancy of Blood Money in the Criminal Law of Iran

The death of the intentional murderer is one of the instances that renders impossible the execution of retaliation (qisas) since the location for the execution of the retaliation which is the physical body of the murderer is eliminated. There has long been controversy among jurists over the payment of blood money for murder in the case of the death of the murderer in deliberate homicide. Some jurists believe in the lapse of blood money with the death of the murderer. On the other hand, some other jurists consider the constancy of the payment of blood money with the impossibility of retaliation.  And some even consider an elaboration and take a middle ground.  Legislature is also affected by this diversity so that, before the approval of penal code in 1392, the legislators approved the lapse of blood money, but in the new penal code the previous attitude was abandoned and constancy of blood money is accepted. This paper examines the reasons and evidence of the opponents and advocates and elaborates on the quality of the inclusion in the rule of "No-Waste of Muslim Blood" on the issue of the death of the intentional murderer and considers the aforementioned rule is as the reason behind the ascertainment of blood money. This paper also demonstrates that, in the three situations recognized by tradition, the person responsible for payment of blood money differs in the death of the murderer of the third party compared to the two other kinds of murder.