The manner of killing is not material. Whether it be by shooting, poison, beating, im prisonment, starvation or exposure to the in clemency of the atmosphere, it will be equally murder. This crime may be committed by mere advice and encouragement. An infant unborn is within the protection of the law, and it is laid down that if, in consequence of poison given or wounds inflicted before the birth of a' child which is afterward born alive, it dies soon after its birth, the act is murder. The act of suicide is considered by the law to be murder, and the person making away with himself is accordingly styled a aself-felon.P This view is undoubtedly being modified by public opinion.
The lines of distinction between felonious and excusable or justifiable homicide, and be tween manslaughter and murder, are in many cases difficult to define with precision. But in general the accused has the advantage of any uncertainty or obscurity that may hang over his case, since the presumptions of law are usu ally in his favor. The characteristic distinction laid down in law books between murder and manslaughter is the absence of malice in the latter. Sudden provocation may be an excuse for striking another without the intention to give a deadly blow ; and though death ensue, the party may not be guilty of murder. One
circumstance, showing the degree of malice, or rather showing its presence or absence, is the kind of weapon used in giving a wound on a sudden provocation; and another circumstance of importance is the fact of the weapon's being already in the hand or not, for going to seek a weapon gives time for deliberation. The ground of excuse of homicide, in case of prov ocation merely, is the supposed sudden passion, some influence of which the law concedes to the frailty of human nature. But the excuse of self-defense goes still further ; and where a man is attacked, so that his own life is endan gered, or in such way that he may reasonably suppose it to be so, he may repel the attack with mortal weapons. One of the most fre quent cases of manslaughter was that occasioned by single combat, and on account of the firm hold which the point of honor had taken of European nations, was long among the most difficult subjects of legislation. (See Duna.). The crime of murder in its most aggravated de gree is punished with death in most parts of the civilized world.