ADMINISTERING POISON. An of fence of an aggravated character, punishable under the various statutes defining the of fence.
The stat. 9 G. IV. e. 31, s. 11, enacts "that if any person unlawfully and maliciously shall ad minister, or attempt to administer, to any person, or shall cause to be taken by any person, any poison or other destructive things," &c., every such offender, &c. In a case which arose under this statute, it was decided that, to constitute the act of administering the it was not absolutely necessary there should have been a delivery to the party poisoned, but that if she took it from a place where it had been put for her by the defendant, and any part of it went into her stomach, it was an administering. 4 Carr. & P. 369; 1 Mood. Cr. Cas. 114.
The statute 7 Will. IV. & I Vict. c. 85 enacts that "whosoever, with intent to procure the mis carriage of any woman, shall unlawfully administer to her, or cause to he taken by her, any poison, or other noxious thing," shall he guilty of felony.
Upon an indictment under this section, it was proved that the woman requested the prisoner to get her something to procure miscarriage, and that a drug was both given by the prisoner and taken by the woman with that intent, but that the taking was not in the presence of the prisoner. It was held, nevertheless, that the prisoner had caused the drug to he taken within the meaning of the statute. 1 Dearsl. & B. Cr. Cas. 127, 164. It is not sufficient that the defendant merely imagine° that the thing administered would have the effect intended, but it must also appear that the drug administered was either a "poison" or a "noxious thing."