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CARNAL KNOWLEDGE Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

The act of a man in having sexual bodily connection with a woman. Carnal knowledge and sexual intercourse held equivalent expressions. Noble v. State, 22 Ohio St. 541. From very early times, in the law, as in common speech, the meaning of the words “carnal knowledge” of a woman by a man has been sexual bodily connection ; and these words, without more, have been used in that sense by writers of the highest authority on criminal law, when undertaking to give a full and precise definition of the crime of rape, the highest crime of this character. Com. v. Squires, 97 Mass. 61.

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