Part 29

The writer having been a member of this committee, here enters, as he has already done by letter to the councillors of the Society, his earnest protest against the plainly erroneous opinion avowed in that report, which was presented and accepted during his absence from the State.

By the laws of Massachusetts, the offence is considered as mainly against the person of the mother. In case of her death, already sufficiently provided for at common law, convictions can be effected, with great difficulty, under the statute,—as has twice occurred the present year, in the cases of Jackson and Brown; but hardly otherwise.

In this connection honorable mention is due Drs. TATUM and JOYNES, of Virginia, for their papers on “The Attributes of the Impregnated Germ,” and “Some of the Legal Relations of the Fœtus in Utero” (Virginia Medical Journal, 1856.) Through the agency of the latter of these gentlemen, an important modification has been made in the law of the State; as has also been effected in Wisconsin, by Dr. BRISBANE.

For valuable information in this connection, I am indebted to many friends, more particularly to Drs. THAYER, of New Hampshire, PHELPS, of Vermont, CHAS. HOOKER, of Connecticut, BLATCHFORD, of New York, WOOD, of Pennsylvania, THOMPSON, of Delaware, WROTH, of Maryland, BRAINARD, of Illinois, CAMERON, of Indiana, LELAND, of Michigan, LE BOUTILLIER, of Minnesota, BRISBANE, of Wisconsin, POPE, of Missouri, HOYT, of Tennessee, HAXALL and JOYNES, of Virginia, SEMMES, of District of Columbia, DICKSON, of North Carolina, LOPEZ, of Alabama, BARTON, of Louisiana, (now of South Carolina,) and to my relatives, WOODBURY and BELLAMY STORER, Esqrs., of Maine and Ohio, and JAMES M. KEITH, Esq., of Boston, late District-Attorney for Norfolk and Plymouth Counties. In every instance, however, verification of the statutes has been made from copies in the State Library of Massachusetts.

DAVIS, Criminal Justice, p. 482.

1 Commentaries, 129.

Ibid.

43 George III., c. 58.

9 Geo. IV., c. 31; 10 Geo. IV., c. 34.

7 William IV.; 1 Vict., c. 85.

To this list may also be added the Territory of Washington.

The Territory of Kansas belongs to the above group.

Compiled Statutes of Connecticut, 1854, p. 307.

Revised Code of Mississippi, 1857, chap. 64, p. 601.

Digest of Statutes of Arkansas, 1848, chap. 51, p. 325.

Revised Statutes of Minnesota, 1851, chap. 100, p. 493.

Statutes of Oregon, 1855, chap. 3, p. 310.

Revised Statutes of Maine, 1857, chap. 124, p. 685.

The above should evidently read “the first two sections,” to be possible.

Compiled Statutes of New Hampshire, 1853, chap. 227, p. 544.

Revised Statutes of New York, 1852, ii. pp. 847, 876. The last section of this statute does not require proof of pregnancy.

Revised Statutes of Ohio, 1854, chap. 162, p. 296.

Compiled Laws of Michigan, 1857, vol. ii. chap. 180, p. 1509. The statute of the Territory of WASHINGTON is very similar to those above.

“Every person who shall administer to any woman pregnant with a quick child, any medicine, drug, or substance whatever, or shall use or employ any instrument, or other means, with intent thereby to destroy such child, unless the same shall have been necessary to preserve the life of such mother, shall, in case the death of such child or of such mother be thereby produced, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than twenty years, nor less than one year.

“Every person who shall administer to any pregnant woman, or to any woman whom he supposes to be pregnant, any medicine, drug, or substance whatever, or shall use or employ any instrument, or other means, thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless the same is necessary to preserve her life, shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than five years, nor less than one year, or be imprisoned in the county jail not more than twelve months, nor less than one month, and be fined in any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars.” Statutes of the Territory of Washington, 1855, p. 81.

Compiled Statutes of Vermont, 1850, chap. 108, p. 560.

Supplement to the Revised Statutes of Massachusetts, 1849, p. 322.

Statutes of Illinois, 1858, vol. i. p. 381.