Birth is generally applied to the delivery of a living child, and not to the mere expulsion of an ovum, or fetus, or dead child. Numerous medico-legal questions of importance may arise regarding the real or supposed birth of a child. Only a few points regarding the most common of these can be touched on here. (a) Has the supposed mother been delivered of a child? Was it at or about the time alleged? The fact of delivery is often concealed, sometimes it is falsely assumed. It is only for about eight or ten days after birth that, in the case of a healthy woman, physicians can tell certainly whether or not delivery has just taken place. It is however generally possible to say whether or not a woman has had a child at some time or other; so that delivery which is feigned for the purpose of extorting charity, compelling marriage, or disinheriting other parties, can generally be detected by medical jurists. (b) Was the child mature when born? or sufficiently developed for it to live? A child reaches maturity about nine months after conception, when the head is covered with hair, and the finger nails are completely formed; the average length is 18 inches, and weight between 6 and 7 lb.; but wide deviations from these figures are met with. It is very rare for a child to live more than a few hours if born before the end of the seventh month from conception. (c) Was the child born alive? how long did it survive its birth? (see INFANTICIDE). With regard to questions of inheritance, a child is considered capable of taking and transmitting property, if it has lived for an instant, although it may not have cried or moved. See ABORTION, BASTARD, HEIR, ILLEGITIMACY, INFANTICIDE, LEGITIMATION, REPRODUCTION; for Birthright, see FAMILY, FIRST-BORN, FEUDALISM, SUCCESSION; and for Registration of Births, see REGISTRATION.
CONCEALMENT OF BIRTH is a criminal offence in the law of all civilised countries. In England, under the Criminal Law Consolidation Act of 1861, every person who endeavours to conceal a birth by a secret disposition of the dead body of the child is liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not more than two years; it is not necessary to prove whether the child died before, at, or after its birth. This law does not apply to the case of a woman being delivered of a foetus (see ABORTION). Concealment includes the case of the body being laid down in an unfrequented place though not hidden. Many cases dealt with are undoubtedly cases of murder through exposure. Accordingly, a verdict of concealment can be returned on an indictment charging murder.
In Scotland, from 1690 till 1803, concealment of birth was construed as presumptive of child-murder, and punished with death, in all cases where a woman concealed her being with child during the whole period of her pregnancy; where she did not call for, or make use of help or assistance in the birth; and where the child was found dead, or was amissing. The case of Tibby Walker (the 'Effie Deans' of Scott's Heart of Midlothian) is a familiar instance. The capital penalty was first superseded by banishment; and now, by a statute of 1809, the woman is liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years. Of course, this law does not apply to cases of premature birth, at least where the offspring cannot properly be called a child. In both England and Scotland, the law is dictated by a desire not to press charges of murder against unfortunate women. In England, only the secret disposal of the body is punished, and for this the paramour is often responsible. In Scotland, if the child were born alive and shown to any one, no conviction could be obtained. It has been decided that disclosure by the mother to the putative father, or even conduct implying disclosure, or confession before a kirk-session, is a sufficient defence. The punishment usually awarded for this offence in Scotland is imprisonment from three to six, and in aggravated cases, from nine to eighteen months. See INFANTICIDE.