Definition
Carrying away an infant is the unlawful taking and removal of a child from the custody, control, or possession of a parent, guardian, or other person lawfully entitled to the child's care. The phrase "carrying away" in this context denotes a physical act of removal or asportation — moving the child from the place where they lawfully are — and is an essential element that distinguishes this offense from mere interference with custody rights that stops short of physical removal.
The term historically appeared as a discrete heading in legal indexes and treatises, directing researchers to the broader doctrine of abduction. In practice, carrying away an infant is a species of abduction, specifically limited to minor children and distinguished from abduction of adult women (a separately treated offense in historical common law). The offense could arise in both criminal and civil contexts: criminally, as a misdemeanor or felony depending on jurisdiction and circumstances; civilly, as a basis for a writ to restore custody.
The fragment "FE" in the source heading is a truncated cross-reference indicator (likely "FE[MALES]" or "FE[LON Y]"), consistent with the alphabetical index style of Rapalje & Lawrence, and does not alter the substantive definition of the term.
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Common Confusion
"Carrying away an infant" should not be conflated with the modern offense of parental kidnapping or custodial interference. In historical common law, the offense was directed primarily at strangers or third parties who removed a child without any colorable claim to custody. Modern statutes have evolved to encompass parental actors as well — a parent with no lawful custody order can now commit the equivalent offense — but the historical doctrine presumed a stranger-perpetrator context. Researchers conflating the two may misread historical sources as more permissive toward parental removal than they actually were under contemporaneous equity jurisdiction.
"Infant" in this context carries its legal rather than common meaning: any person who has not attained the age of majority, not necessarily a very young child.
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Core Elements
For the historical common law offense, the following elements generally required proof:
1. SUBJECT IS AN INFANT: The person carried away must be under legal age of majority (historically 21; now typically 18).
2. ACT OF CARRYING AWAY: Actual physical removal or asportation from a place; mere attempted removal or enticement without movement generally insufficient.
3. WITHOUT LAWFUL AUTHORITY: The actor lacks legal right, consent of the lawful custodian, or court authorization.
4. FROM LAWFUL CUSTODY: Removal must be from a person or institution with a recognized legal claim to the child's presence.
Intent requirements varied historically. Some authorities required intent to deprive the custodian permanently; others treated the act itself as sufficient evidence of unlawful purpose.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering this heading in older digests and indexes should treat it as a gateway term, not a self-contained doctrine. Rapalje & Lawrence direct readers immediately to ABDUCTION, which is where the substantive law was developed. The heading "Carrying Away Infant" in historical sources functions as an access point — it tells you how contemporaries categorized the conduct — but the rules, elements, and case law are found under abduction, with further material sometimes distributed under KIDNAPPING, GUARDIAN AND WARD, and HABEAS CORPUS (the procedural vehicle for restoring custody).
The equity jurisdiction of Chancery courts treated carrying away an infant as a distinct ground for immediate intervention, independent of any criminal proceeding. Researchers working in historical equity reports should look for petitions for custody restoration alongside criminal indictments; the two tracks ran simultaneously in many cases.
Jurisdictional variation in the nineteenth century was substantial. American states diverged from English common law both on the age threshold defining "infant" and on whether the offense required proof of specific criminal intent or could be established by the fact of removal alone. Federal sources become relevant only after the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (1980), which introduced interstate dimensions that have no counterpart in the historical common law materials.
The truncated heading in Rapalje & Lawrence ("FE") points to a cross-reference structure common in late nineteenth-century legal dictionaries. Researchers should be alert to the fact that the offense of carrying away females (adult women) was treated as a separate offense in the same period — often styled as abduction for purposes of marriage or concubinage — and the two should not be merged in research.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Rapalje & Lawrence (1883) treats "Carrying Away Infant" as a purely indexing entry, with no independent definition, directing the reader to ABDUCTION. This is consistent with the treatise tradition of the period, which handled child removal as a subclass of abduction rather than as an independent offense requiring separate doctrinal development. The entry's truncated cross-reference to "MALES" confirms that the dictionary organized removal offenses by the category of victim — infants, females, males — each receiving separate cross-reference treatment.
What historical dictionaries of this period largely omit is any treatment of parental or custodial-actor liability. The assumption embedded in the historical framing is that the wrongdoer is a third party with no colorable claim. This is a significant gap: equity courts of the same period were actively adjudicating disputes where one parent removed a child from the other, but this body of law was indexed under GUARDIAN AND WARD or CUSTODY rather than under abduction or carrying away.
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Jurisdictional Note
Modern statutes addressing child removal are almost entirely creatures of state law, with significant variation in intent requirements, defenses, and whether parental actors are covered. Federal jurisdiction arises under the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act (18 U.S.C. § 1204) and the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (28 U.S.C. § 1738A) in interstate and international contexts. Historical common law rules are largely displaced by statute in every U.S. jurisdiction.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Abduction — for full treatment of the common law offense and its elements.
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Child Custody — for equity jurisdiction and restoration remedies.
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Parental Kidnapping — for modern statutory framework and federal dimensions.
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