Definition of Abduction

In criminal law. The offense of taking away a man's wife, child or ward, by fraud and persuasion or open violence. 3 Bl. Comm. 139-141; Humphrey v. Pope, 122 Cal. 253, 54 Pac. 847; State v. George, 93 N. C. 567; State v. Chisenhall, 106 N. C. 676, 11 S. E. 518; People v. Seeley, 37 Hun (N. Y.) 190. The unlawful taking or detention of any female for the purpose of marriage, concubinage or prostitution. People v. Crotty, 55 Hun (N. Y.) 611, 9 N. Y. Supp. 937. By statute in some states, abduction includes the withdrawal of a husband from his wlfe, as where another woman alienates his affection and entices him away and causes him to abandon his wife. King v. Hanson, 13 N. D. 85, 99 N. W. 1085.