Legal Term: BIRTH

Definition: The act of being wholly brought into the world. The whole body must be detached from that of the mother, in order to make the birth complete. 5 C. & P. 329, S. C. 24 E. C. L. R. 344 6 C. & P. 349, S. C. 25 E. C. L. R. 433.

2. But if a child be killed with design and maliciously after it has wholly come forth from the body of the mother, although still connected with her by means of the umbilical cord, it seems that such killing will be murder. 9 C. & P. 25 S . C. 38 E. C. L. R. 21, 7 C. & P. 814. Vide articles Breath, Dead Born, Gestation, Life, and 1 Beck s Med. Jur. 478, et seq., 1 Chit. Med. Jur. 438, 7 C. & P. 814, 1 Carr. & Marsh. 650, S. C. 41 E. C. L. R. 352, 9 C. & P. 25.

3. It seems that unless the cbild be born alive, it is not properly a birth, but a carriage. 1 Chit. Pr. 35, note z. But see Russ. & Ry. C. C. 336.

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