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 wife, 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.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
crim. law. The carrying away of any person by force or fraud. This is a misdemeanor punishable by indictment. The civil remedies are recaption, by writ of habeas corpus; and an action of trespass.