5. Delivery is not necessary at common law to complete a sale of personal property as between the vendor and vendee, Story, Sales ; but as against third parties possession retained by the vendor raises a presumption of fraud conclusive according to some au thorities, 1 Cranch, 309 ; 2 Munf. Va. 341; 4 M'Cord, So. C. 294; 1 Ov. Tenn. 91; 14 B. Moor. Ky. 533 ; 18 Penn. St. 113 • 4 Harr. Del. 458; 2I11. 296; 1 Halst. N. J. 155• 5 Conn. 196; 12 Vt. 653; 23 id. 82; 4 Fla. 219; 9 Johns. N. Y. 337; 1 Campb. 332; 2 Term, 587; holding it merely strong evidence of fraud to be left to the jury, Cowp. 432; 2 Bos. & P.59; 3 Barnew. & 4 id. 652; 5 Rand. Va. 211 ; Bail. So. C. 5i)8 ; 3 Yerg. Tenn. 475: 7 id. 440; 3 J. J. Marsh. Ky. 643; 4 N. Y. 303, 580; 2 Metz. Mass. 99; 18 Me. 127; 5 La. Ann. 1; 1 Tex. 415; but is, in general, where the property in goods is to be transferred in pursuance of a previous contract, 1 Taunt. 318 ; 16 Me. 49 • 1 Par sons, Contr. 447; and also in case of a dona tio cause mortis, 3 Binn. Penn. 370; 2 Ves. .Ch. 120; 9 id. 1. The rules requiring actual full delivery are subject to modification in the case of bulky articles. 5 Serg. & R. Penn. 19 ; 12 Mass. 400 ; 16 Me. 49. See, also, 3 Johns. N. Y. 399; 13 id. 294; 19 id. 218; 1 Dall. Penn. 171; 2 N. H. 75 ; 2 Kent, Comm. 508.
6. A condition requiring delivery may be annexed as a part of any contract of transfer. 19 Me. 147.
In the absence of contract, the amount of transportation to be performed by the seller to constitute delivery is determined by general usage.
See Browne, Stat. of Frauds • Story, Sales ; 1 Parsons, Contr. 201, 442, 482, 577, 650.
In Medical Jurisprudence. The act of a woman giving birth to her offspring.
7. Pretehded delivery may present itself in three points of view. First, when the female who feigns has never been pregnant. When thoroughly in vestigated, this may always he detected. There are signs which must be present and cannot be feigned. An enlargement of the orifice of the uterus, and a tumefaction of the organs of gene ration, should always be present, and if absent are conclusive against the fact. 2 Annales d'Hygiene, 227. Second, when the pretended pregnancy and delivery have been preceded by one or more de liveries. In this case attention should be given to the following circumstances: the mystery, if any, which has been affected with regard to the ,situa tion of the female ; her age; that of her hus band; and, particularly, whether aged or decrepit. Third, when the woman has been actually de livered, and substitutes a living for a dead child. But little evidence can be obtained on this subject from a physical examination.
8. Concealed delivery generally takes place when the woman either has destroyed her offspring or it was born dead. In suspected cases the following circumstances should be attended to. First, the proofs of pregnancy which arise in consequence of the examination of the mother. When she has been pregnant, and has been delivered, the usual signs of delivery, mentioned below, will be present. A careful investigation as to the woman's appear ance before and since the delivery will have some weight; though such evidence is not always to be relied upon, as such appearances are not unfre 'quently deceptive. Second, the proofs of recent delivery. Third, the connection between the sup posed state of parturition and the state of the child that is found; for if the age of the child do not correspond to that time it will he a strong cir cumstance 'in favor ni the mother's innocence. A
redness of the skin and an attachment of the um bilical cord to the navel indicate a recent birth. Whether the child was living at its birth, belongs to the subject of infanticide.
9. The usual signs of delivery are very well col lected in Beck's excellent treatise on Medical Ju risprudence, and are here extracted :— If the female be examined within three or four days after the occurrence of delivery, the following circumstances will generally be observed: greater or less weakness, a alight paleness of the face, the eye a little sunken and surrounded by a purplish or dark-brown colored ring, and a whiteness of the skin like that of a person convalescing from disease. The belly is soft, the akin of the abdomen is lax, lies in folds, and is traversed in various directions by shining reddish and whitish lines, which espe cially extend from the groin and pubes to the navel. These lines have sometimes been termed lineee albicantee, and are particularly observed near the-umbilical region, where the abdomen has expe rienced the greatest distension. The breasts be come tumid and hard, and, on pressure, emit a fluid, which at first is serous and afterwards gra dually becomes whiter; and the presence of this secretion is generally accompanied with a full pulse and soft skin, covered with a moisture of a peculiar and somewhat acid odor. The areolce round the nipples are dark-colored. The external genital organs and vagina are dilated and tume fied throughout the whole of their extent, from the pressure of the fcetua. The uterus may be felt through the abdominal parietee, voluminous, firm, and globular, and rising nearly as high as the umbilicus. Its orifice is soft and tumid, and di lated so as to admit two or more fingers. The fourchette, or anterior margin of the perinthuna, is sometimes torn, or it is lox, and appears to have suffered considerable distension. A discharge (termed the lochial) commences from the uterus, which is distinguished- from the menses by its pale color, its peculiar and well-known smell, and its duration. The lochia are at first of a red color, and gradually become lighter until they cease.
10. These signs may generally be relied upon as indicating the state of pregnancy : yet it re quires much experience in order not to be deceived by appearances.
The lochial discharge might be mistaken for menstruation, or fluor albus, were it not for its peculiar smell; and this it has been found impos sible, by any artifice, to destroy.
Relaxation of the soft parts arises as frequently froth menstruation as from delivery; but in these cases the os uteri and vagina are not so much tumefied, nor is there that tenderness and swell ing. The parts are found pale and flabby when all signs of contusion disappear. after delivery; and this circumstance does not follow menstruation.
11. The presence of milk, though a usual sign of delivery, is not always to be relied upon; for this secretion may take place independent of preg nancy.
The wrinkles and relaxations of the abdomen which follow delivery may be the consequence of dropsy, or of lankness following great obesity. This state of the parts is also seldom striking alter the birth of the first child, as they shortly resume their natural state.
See, generally, 1 Beck, Med. Jur. o. 7, p. 206; 1 Chitty, Mcd. Jur. 411; Ryan, Med. Jur. o. 10, p. 133; 1 Brinnd, Med. Leg. Pr° partie, e. 5.