ABNEPOS, civil law. The grandson of a grandson or grand-daughter, or fourth descendant. Abneptis, is the grand-daughter of a grandson or grand-daughter. These terms are used in making genealogical tables.
ABOLITION1. An act by which a thing is extinguished, abrogated2 or annihilated3. Merl. Repert, h. t., as, the abolition of slavery is the destruction of slavery.
2 . In the civil and French law abolition is used nearly synonymously with pardon, remission, grace. Dig. 39, 4, 3, 3. There is, however, this difference; grace is the generic4 term; pardon, according to those laws, is the clemency5 which the prince extends to a man who has participated in a crime, without being a principal or accomplice6; remission is made in cases of involuntary homicides, and self-defence. Abolition is different: it is used when the crime cannot be remitted8. The prince then may by letters of abolition remit7 the punishment, but the infamy9 remains10, unless letters of abolition have been obtained before sentence. Encycl. de d'Alembert, h. t.
3. The term abolition is used in the German law in the same sense as in the French law. Encycl. Amer. h. t. The term abolition is derived11 from the civil law, in which it is sometimes used synonymously with absolution. Dig. 39, 4, 3, 3.
ABORTION12, med jur. and criminal law. The expulsion of the foetus before the seventh mouth of utero-gestation13, or before it is viable14. q. v.
2. The causes of this accident are referable either to the mother, or to the foetus and its dependencies. The causes in the mother may be: extreme nervous susceptibility, great debility, plethora15, faulty conformation, and the like; and it is frequently induced immediately by intense mental emotion. The causes seated in the foetus are its death, rupture16 of the membranes17, &c.
3. It most frequently occurs between the 8th and 12th weeks of gestation. When abortion is produced with a malicious18 design, it becomes a misdemeanor, at common law, 1 Russell, 553; and the party causing it may be indicted19 and punished.
4. The crimjnal means resorted to for the purpose of destroying the foetus, may be divided into general and local. To the first belong venesection, emetics20, cathartics diuretics, emmenagogues &c. The second embraces all kinds of violence directly applied21.
5. When, in consequence of the means used to produce abortion, the death of the woman ensues, the crime is murder.
6. By statute22 a distinction is made between a woman quick with child, (q. v.) and one who, though pregnant, is not so, 1 Bl. Com. 129. Physiologists23, perhaps with reason, think that the child is a living being from the moment of conception. 1 Beck. Med. Jur. 291. General References. 1 Beck, 288 to 331; and 429 to 435; where will be found an abstract of the laws of different countries, and some of the states punishing criminal abortion; Roscoe, Cr. Ev. 190; 1 Russ. 553; vilanova y Manes, Materia Criminal Forense, Obs. 11, c. 7 n. 15-18. See also 1 Briand, Med. Leg. 1 ere partie, c. 4, where the question is considered, how far abortion is justifiable24, and is neither a crime nor a misdemeanor. See Alis. Cr. L. of Scot. 628.
ABORTUS. The fruit of an abortion; the child born before its time, incapable25 of life. See Abortion; Birth; Breath; Dead bord; Gestation; Life. ABOVE. Literally26 higher in place: But in law this word is sometimes used to designate the superior court, or one which may revise proceedings27 of an inferior court error, from such inferior jurisdiction28. The court of error is called the court above; the court whose proceedings are to be examined is called the court below.
2. By bail29 above, is understood bail to the action entered with the prothonotary or clerk, which is an appearance. See Bail above. The bail given to the Sheriff, in civil cases, when the defendant30 is arrested on bailable31 process, is called bail below; (q.v.) vide Below.
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