ABDUCTION, a law term denoting the forcible or unlawful removal of a person. The Offences against the Person Act 1861, by s. 53, 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 in terest in any real or personal estate, or is an heiress presump tive, or co-heiress, or presumptive next of kin to any one hav ing 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 21, 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, by s. 55, makes abduction without even any such intent a misdemeanour, where an un married girl under the age of 16 is unlawfully taken out of the possession and against the will of her parents or guardians. The girl's consent is immaterial, nor is it a defence that the person charged reasonably believed that the girl was 16 or over. By s. 56, stealing a child under the age of 14 with intent to deprive parents or guardian of such child is also a felony. 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 the United States, in some of the States, mere unchastity is no defence. The burden of proof is on the defendant that the woman abducted was unchaste, the presumption of her chastity standing unless otherwise proved.