"He's signed his own death warrant" is a common phrase used when someone has made a disastrous decision. But has anyone in the history of the world ever literally signed their own death warrant?

lanfranco

I would have loved to find -- but did not expect to do so -- evidence that some individual had actually signed his own death warrant. The closest I came was Michael Collins' signature on the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which many people, including Collins himself, regarded correctly as his "death warrant" -- though not in the literal sense: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(Irish_leader) Nov 11 06, 5:59 PM

davejacobs

I think the answer must be no, more's the pity. I was hoping that Charles I as head of state might have been forced to sign his own death warrant, but sadly not. There was a lot of fuss though about which people actually did sign it, when and under what duress. Nov 15 06, 6:18 AM