State v. Hemm

I. The indictment charges that the defendant “did * * * seduce, debauch and carnally ,1- seduction”1' of the word know one Mary E. Starner, the said Mary E. Starner being then and there an unmarried female o± previous chaste character,” etc. The language of the statute is: “If any person seduce and debauch-an unmarried woman,” etc. It is urged that the indictment is defective because the ofíense is charged as committed against a “female” and not a “ woman.”

It is true that, comprehensively considered, the term “female” is generic, and includes a variety of species, while the word “woman” has a…