Desertion

Desertion. 1. The crime of abandoning the naval or military service without licence. 2. The term also legally signifies the abandonment of a wife, which is a matrimonial offence, as is also the case where the wife leaves her husband, and for which a sentence of judicial separation may be obtained if the desertion has been for two years and upwards without cause; and by the Married Women's (maintenance in case of desertion) Act, 1886, a deserted wife may obtain an order from justices of the peace for payment by her husband of a weekly sum, according to his means, not exceeding £2. 3. The abandonment or desertion of young children has also been provided against by an Act of the present reign, by which anyone unlawfully abandoning or exposing any child under two years of age in such manner that its life or health is endangered or likely to be permanently injured shall be guilty of misdemeanor and punishable by penal servitude for five years, or imprisonment with or without hard labour, not exceeding two years; and for better protection of infant life, a later statute makes it unlawful for anyone to retain or receive for hire or reward more than one infant (or, in case of twins, more than two) under the age of one year for the purpose of nursing or maintenance, apart from their parents, for longer than 24 hours, except in some duly registered house; and in case of proved serious neglect of these provisions, or that the person registered is incapable of supplying the infants with proper food, or that the house has become unfit for the reception of infants, the house may be struck out of the register, and any offence under that Act may be prosecuted summarily, and on conviction the punishment may be imprisonment for not more than six months with or without hard labour, or a penalty not exceeding £5.