KIDNAPPING (from kid, a slang term for a child, and nap or nab, to steal)

This article appears in Volume V15, Page 784 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: KHA-KRI

KIDNAPPING (from kid, a slang term for a child, and nap or nab, to steal) , originally the stealing and carrying away of children and others to serve as servants or labourers in the American plantations; it was defined by Blackstone as the forcible abduction or stealing away of a man, woman or child from their own country and sending them into another. The difference between kidnapping, abduction (q.v.) and false imprisonment is not very

great

GREAT

; indeed, kidnapping may be said to be a form of assault and false imprisonment, aggravated by the carrying of the person to some other place. The

term

TERM

is, however, more commonly applied in England to the offence of taking away children from the possession of their parents. By the Offences against the Person Act 1861, " whosoever shall unlawfully, by force or fraud, lead or take away or decoy or entice away or detain any child under the age of fourteen years with

intent

INTENT (from Lat. intend ere, to stretch out, extend, particularly in the phrase intendere animum, to turn one's mind to, purpose)

to deprive any parent, guardian or other person having the lawful care or charge of such child of the possession of such child, or with

intent

INTENT (from Lat. intend ere, to stretch out, extend, particularly in the phrase intendere animum, to turn one's mind to, purpose)

to steal any article upon or about the person of such child, to whomsoever such article may belong, and whosoever shall with any such intent receive or harbour any such child, &c.," shall be guilty of

felony

FELONY (0. Fr. felonie, from felon, a word meaning " wicked," common to Romanic
languages
- LANGUAGES
, cf. Italian fella, fellone, the ultimate origin of which is obscure, but is possibly connected either with Lat. fel,
gall
- GALL (a word common to many Teutonic
  languages
  - LANGUAGES
  , cf. Dutch gal, and Ger. Galle; the Indo-
  European
  - EUROPEAN
  root appears in Gr. xoXi,, and Lat. fel; possibly connected with " yellow," with reference to the colour of bile)
- GALL, FRANZ JOSEPH (1758-1828)
, or fallere, to deceive. The
English
- ENGLISH
" fel

, and is liable to penal servitude for not more than seven years, or to imprisonment for any

term

TERM

not more than two years with or without hard labour. The abduction or unlawfully taking away an unmarried girl under sixteen out of the possession and against the will of her father or

mother

MOTHER

, or any other person having the lawful care or charge of her, is a misdemeanour under the same
act. The term is used in much the same sense in the United States.
The kidnapping or forcible taking away of persons to serve at sea is treated under IMPRESSMENT.

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