The ''forfeiture rule'' - that no one who unlawfully kills another person can share in their estate or receive a financial benefit from their death - dates back to an 1800s English court case.

It also applies to the killer's children and other descendants. Even those who have not been convicted of killing someone, but are found in civil proceedings to have killed someone ''on the balance of probabilities'' are also included.

In Victoria, the only exception to the rule is for people who have a mental impairment.

The commission has released a consultation paper, inviting the public to comment on whether Victoria should follow the UK, NSW and ACT and allow the courts to exclude certain other killers from the rule, including family violence victims, survivors of suicide pacts, people who aid in suicides and infanticide.

The rule relates to crimes ''less than murder'', for example where the victim's death was unintentional or unforeseen, commission chairman Phillip Cummins said.

''There's an understandable community concern that if you unlawfully kill someone you shouldn't profit from your crime,'' he said. ''But over the years the law, which is basically a good rule, has sometimes applied unfairly because it hasn't taken into account those cases of lesser moral culpability.''

The commission cited as an example a British case in which a woman accidentally shot her abusive husband when threatening him with a loaded shotgun. The woman, who would have been disentitled under the forfeiture rule, successfully applied to be excluded from the rule, so that she could inherit from her husband's estate.

It is also asking the public whether people found not guilty of killing someone because of a mental impairment should continue to be excluded from the forfeiture rule.

Since 2005, the NSW Supreme Court has been able to order that such killers should not be able to inherit from their victims. It has done so in three cases where judges took into account their conduct, including a lack of remorse and in one case, the impact this would have on the victim's children.

A significant number of Victorian homicides involve killers and victims who have a family or domestic relationship - 60 per cent of all cases in 2012.

The commission estimates that about 60 per cent of cases involving the forfeiture rule in Victoria each year do not go to court.

Submissions can be made to the Law Reform Commission until April 28.

Link: lawreform.vic.gov.au