HOMICIDE (ante), the killing of one human being by another either innocently or feloniously. To say that there has been a homicide does not necessarily imply that a crime has been committed; for, though every murder is a homicide, every homicide is not it murder. The law permits a man to kill another in self-defense when his own life is assailed or threatened; but the danger must be real, or in good faith and kir sound reasons deemed so by the person threatened. A man may lawfully kill another, after due warning, in defense of his property, or to prevent the escape of one who has committed a felony. An officer of justice charged with the dutyof arresting a criminal or with the performance of any other lawful act may kill a person who resists or attempts to thware him by force. A person charged with felony, seeking to escape after arrest or fleeing to avoid capture, may be lawfully killed by an officer if he cannot otherwise be taken. A man engaged in committing a felony may be lawfully killed by an eye-witness if there he no other way of preventing the crime. The keeper
of a prison may, if necessary, prevent the escape of a prisoner by taking his life. In all such eases, however, it must appear that the killing was resortedto as £1. last alternative.. Justifiable homicide is the term applied in law to all such cases. Where one kills another by a.ceident, without any intention to do him injury, and while exercising proper degree of caution, the law deems it an excusable homicide; as, for example, when a man driving in the highway in the darkness runs over anti kills another without knowing it, or, discovering the danger, has yet no time or power to avert the calamity. The line between justifiable and excusable homicide is vague and, in a legal sense, not important, since neither the one nor the other exposes a man to punishment. In some of the states of the union no distinction is made between them. See MURDER, ante.