Abduction

(1) In logic, a method of reasoning. Compare induction,

deduction.

(2) ABDUCTION (Law) (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.

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heiress and her fortune, have been repealed by the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, etc., 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.

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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 and law in the UK around

1900. -- BryceHarrington

Paragraphed, partly wikified and last sentence

about old source changed -- Jason Scribner