Bench warrant. Concealing the death. Death by potion. Procures. Court shall bind him out to service for any time not exceeding four years, and the proceeds of his labor shall be applied to the purposes aforesaid. By Act of 1847, p. 436, the clause which authorizes the binding out of the defendant, is repealed, and he is liable to execution. as in other cases of misdemeanor; such execution to be stayed, except as to costs, on the payment of twenty-five dollars annually. If the person accused evade or resist the warrant of the magistrate, the constable should return the same with special note, on oath, to the Court of Sessions, whereupon a bill of indictment may be given out, and if found, a bench warrant may issue. By the old precedents, it would seem that proceedings might be had against a woman with child, and the begetter thereof before the birth of the child; but no such authority is given for such proceedings by any Act of the Assembly of this State, and according to the case of K. and Chandler, 1 Burns, 276, a child cannot be illegitimate before its birth, there being always a possibility that it may be born in lawful wedlock. 3d. Murdering a Bastard Child. Formerly by the statute 21 J. 1st., c. 27, any woman concealing the death of a child, which, if born alive, would have been a bastard, was liable to suffer death, as in case of murder, unless she could prove by one witness, at the least, that such child was born dead. But the severity of said statute was in a great measure removed by construction, and finally the statute was repealed by the Act of 1795; so that the mere concealment of the birth of a bastard child is no longer to be regarded as proof of its murder; but the question whether the child was, or was not born alive, is a matter to be determined from the whole of the circumstances of the case; and it seems that there must appear some signs of hurt or some marks of violence upon the body, to warrant a conviction of the mother for murder. 2 Haw., 438. If the death of the child be brought about by a potion taken to procure abortion, it is not murder or manslaughter, unless it appear that it was born alive, and afterwards died of the poison, in which case it. is murder, both in the party taking and the party administering; 1 Haw., 80. And if one administer poison to a pregnant woman, for the purpose of procuring abortion, and the woman die thereof, it is murder. * 1 H. H., 429; and if a person shall procure a pregnant woman to destroy her infant when born, and the child is born, and the mother in pursuance of that procurement kills the infant, this is murder in the mother, and the procurer is accessary. 1 H. H., 433. 4th. Capacity of a Bastard, as to inheritance. devise. A bastard can inherit nothing, being looked upon as the son of nobody; but he may take by gift or devise, if he be sufficiently May take by described, and have gained a name by reputation. 1 B. C., 459, n. 19. But by the act of 1795, 5th S. L., 271, if any person, living in this State, or having an estate therein, have a lawful wife, he is not at liberty to give, settle, convey, devise or bequeath, in trust or other. wise, to any bastard child or children, or to any woman with whom he lives in adultery, more than one-fourth of his estate, after payment Not more of debts; and such gift, &c. is declared void for so much of the amount quarter. and value thereof as shall or may exceed such fourth part. single woman, taken on oath before me, B. C., one of the magistrates she the said A. M., was delivered of a (male) bastard child (insert for particularity the color of the eyes and hair,) and that A. F., farmer of the district of , did get her with child of the said bastard child. Taken and signed the year and day above written, before me. A. M. than one The information of C. D. of in the district aforesaid, taken on oath before me, B. C., magistrate for the said district, this day of in the year who saith that A. M., a single woman, in the district aforesaid, within months last past, was delivered of a bastard child, and that the same is likely to become chargeable to the district. Taken and signed the year and day above written, before me. B. C., Magistrate. C. D. 3d. Warrant for the mother of a bastard. District.} By B. C., magistrate in and for the district aforesaid. To any lawful constable. Whereas, complaint hath been made unto me that A. M., a single woman of the district aforesaid, bath within months last past been delivered cf a bastard child, and that it is likely to become chargeable to the district. These are therefore to command you, that you bring the said A. M. before me, at on the day of at o'clock, to be examined touching the premises. Thereof fail not, as you will answer the contrary at your peril. Given under my hand and seal, By B. C., magistrate in and for the district aforesaid. day of To any lawful Constable. Whereas A. M., single woman of in the said district, hath, by her examination taken in writing upon oath before me, declared that on the last past, she was delivered of a bastard child, and charged A. F., farmer of the said district, with having gotten her with child of the said bastard child. I do, therefore, hereby command you forthwith to apprehend the said A. F., and bring him before me, to be dealt with according to law. Given under my hand and seal, this day of in the year Lord one thousand eight hundred and personally appeared A. F., A. B., and C. D., before me, B. C., magistrate in and for the said State, who acknowledged themselves indebted to the State of South Carolina; that is to say, the said A. F. in the sum of three hundred dollars, and the said A. B. and C. D. each in the sum of three hundred dollars, like money, to be levied of their separate lands and tenements, goods and chattels, respectively, to and for the use of the said State, if the above mentioned A. F. shall fail in performing the condition underwritten. The condition of this recognizance is such, that if the said A. F. Taken and acknowledged the day and year above written, before me. Magistrate. A. F. [L. S.] In case of the mother giving bond rather than declare, let the bond be as above, with a condition merely to save harmless the district. BAWDS AND BAWDY HOUSES. A woman cannot be indicted for being a bawd generally, for that the bare solicitation of chastity is not indictable; Haw. 196. But the frequenting a bawdy house is indictable; and it must be expressly Frequenting. alleged that it is a bawdy house, and not that it is suspected to be so; Wood, p. 3, c. 3. The keeping a bawdy house is indictable as a Keeping. common nuisance, as it endangers the public peace by drawing together dissolute and debauched persons, and also has a tendency to corrupt the manners of both sexes by such an open profession of lewdness. And it has been adjudged that this is an offence of which a married woman may be guilty; and that she, together with her husband, may be convicted of it. If a person be only a lodger, and have but a single room, yet if she make use of it to accommodate persons in the way of a bawdy house, it will be a keeping of a bawdy house as much as if she had a whole house. 1 Russell, 299. College. By the Act of 1836, 6th S. L., 553, any person keeping a bawdy house within ten miles of South Carolina College, or being an inmate Near So. Ca. of such, or who shall gain a maintenance by common prostitution, is liable to be proceeded against as a vagrant; and on conviction, shall be required to enter into recognizance in the sum of two thousand dollars, with two sureties, (free-holders) each in the sum of one thousand dollars, conditioned not to offend against the said act for the Magistrate required to proceed. space of three years; and in default, shall forthwith be committed to the jail of the district, to be dealt with as a vagrant. If any person having given bond shall offend again, such person shall be liable to indictment; and on conviction, to a fine for each day so offending, not exceeding one thousand dollars, and to imprisonment not exceeding twelve months. Any magistrate is required, upon the written requisition of the faculty of the said college, or of the solicitor of the circuit, suggesting the name of the offender, and the witnesses necessary to the investigation, to arrest the party charged; and if the testimony appear sufficient, to organize a court as for the trial of vagrants, before which such offender shall be tried and dealt with as before directed; and every sheriff or constable, to whom any process for the enforcement of the said act may be directed, is required to execute the same with all possible despatch, according to its mandate. In addition to the fine imposed, the party convicted under the said act is liable to the solicitors costs of three hundred dollars. BEHAVIOUR, BOND FOR GOOD, AND FOR THE PEACE. 1st. FOR GOOD BEHAVIOUR. 2d. FOR THE PEACE. 3d. AGAINST WHOM GRANTABLE. 4th. WHAT SHALL BE A FORFEITURE. 5th. How DISCHARGED, 6th. PRECEDENTS. Ale houses. Bastardy. Bawdry. 1st. For good behaviour. Those who are of ill fame, or common disturbers of the peace, those who are accused, or guilty, of any of the offences hereinafter specified, may be required by one justice to enter into a recognizance, with sureties or without them, according to the discretion of the magistrate, to be of good behaviour; and upon refusal, may be committed. The offences for which persons may be bound to good behaviour, are, Those who are reputed to be the fathers of bastard children; likewise the mother of such child, if it be chargeable to the parish. Those who frequent bawdry houses, or who keep them. |