AbductioN

ABDUCTION (Lat. abductio, abducere, to lead away), a

law term denoting the forcible or fraudulent removal of a

person, limited by custom to the case where a woman is the

victim. In the case of men or children, it has been usual

to substitute the term kidnapping (q.v.). The old English

laws against abduction, generally contemplating its object

as the possession of an heiress and her fortune, have been

repealed by the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which

makes it felony for any one from motives of lucre to take

away or detain against her will with intent to marry or

carnally know her, &c., any woman of any age who has any

interest in any real or personal estate, or is an heiress

presumptive, or co-heiress, or presumptive next of kin to

any one having such an interest; or for any one to cause

such a woman to be married or carnally known by any other

person; or for any one with such intent to allure, take

away, or detain any such woman under the age of twenty-one,

out of the possession and against the will of her parents or

guardians. By s. 54, forcible taking away or detention

against her will of any woman of any age with like intent is

felony. The same act makes abduction without eyen any such

intent a misdemeanour, where an unmarried girl under the

age of sixteen is unlawfully taken out of the possession and

against the will of her parents or guardians. In such a case

the girl's consent is immaterial, nor is it a defence that the

person charged reasonably believed that the girl was sixteen or

over. The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 made still more

stringent provisions with reference to abduction by making

the procuration or attempted procuration of any virtuous

female under the age of twenty-one years a misdemeanour, as

well as the abduction of any girl under eighteen years of

age with the intent that she shall be carnally known, or the

detaining of any female against her will on any premises,

with intent to have, or that another person may have, carnal

knowledge of her. In Scotland, where there is no statutory

adjustment, abduction is similarly dealt with by practice.

Source: An unnamed encyclopedia from a project that puts out-of-copyright texts into the public domain. This is from a *very* old source, and reflects the thinking of the turn of the last century. -- BryceHarrington