1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Miscarriage

MISCARRIAGE, in its widest sense a going astray, a failure. In law, the word is used in several phrases; thus, a miscarriage of justice is a failure of the law to attain its ends. In the Statute of Frauds (29 Car. II., c. 3) in the expression “debt, default or miscarriage of another,” the word has sometimes been interpreted as equivalent in meaning to default, but it is more usually considered to mean a species of wrongful act for the consequence of which the law makes a party civilly responsible. The term is also used (see Abortion) for the premature expulsion of the contents of the womb before the period of gestation is complete.