A child in the womb of his mother is for many purpose regarded by a legal fiction as already born.
ACCORDING TO COKE:
In the words of coke,"The law in many cases have consideration of him in respect of the apparent expectation of his birth,"
UNSETTLED QUESTION :
To What extent an unborn person can possess personal and proprietary rights is a some what unsettled question .
There is nothing in law to prevent a man from owning property before he is born .His ownership is contingent as he may never be born at all, but it is a real and present ownership.A man may settle property upon his wife and the children to be born of her .Even if he dies intestate, his unborn child will inherit his estate.However,many restrictions have been imposed in this connection .
ABORTION AND CHILD DESTRUCTION:
Abortion and child destruction are crimes but such acts do not amount to murder or manslaughter unless the child is born alive before he dies.
WILLFUL OR NEGLIGENCE INJURY:
Willful or negligent injury inflicted on a child in the womb by reason of which it dies after having been born alive, amounts to murder manslaughter .A pregnant woman condemned to death is respired as of right until she has been delivered of her child.
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