Fornication

i Illicit carnal intercourse by an unmarried person with a person of the opposite sex. 2 Sexual intercourse between a man, married or single, and an unmarried woman, as to the unmarried party.' niicit carnal connection is called by differentnames, according to the circumstances which attend it. Unaccompanied with any facts which tend to aggravate it, it is " simple fornication." When it causes the birth of an illegitimate child, it is " fornication and bastardy." When the person who commits it is married, it is " adultery." When the parties are related within certain degrees of consanguinity or affinity, it becomes " incest." Where it is preceded by fraudulent arts (including a promise of marriage) to gain the consent of the female, who is under the age of consent, and of good repute, it is "seduction." But the body of all these offenses is the illicit intercourse; in, each case, the essential fact which constitutes the crime is fornication. On an indictment for any offense, below the grade of felony, of which illicit connection forms an essential part, the defendant may be found guilty of fornication.* In a few States, fornication is not punishable by statute. To charge another with fornication is actionable per se.'

See Slander.

See Adultebt; Bad, 1; Bawd; MEBBTBicions; Polygamy; Pbostitution, 2.