KIG 
in the Corinthian and Composite orders it is 
a console, enriched with sculpture. Key- 
stones, made in the manner of consoles, and 
placed projecting in the middle of arches 
and porticos, are particularly designed to 
sustain the weight and pressure of the en- 
tablature, where it happens to be very great 
between the columns; for which reason, 
they should be made so as to be a real sup- 
port, and not stand for mere ornaments, as 
they too frequently do. 
KIDNAPPING, is the forcibly taking 
and carrying away a man, woman, or child, 
from their own country, and sending them 
to another. This is an offence at common 
law, and punishable by fine, imprisonment, 
and pillory. By statute 11 and 12 William 
III. c. 7, if any captain of a merchant ves- 
sel shall, during his being abroad, force any 
person on shore, and wilfully leave him be- 
hind, or refuse to bring home all such men 
as he carried out, if able and desirous to 
return, he shall suffer three months impri- 
sonment. Exclusive of the above punish- 
ment for this, as a criminal offence, the party 
may recover upon an action for compensa- 
tion in damages for the civil injury. 
KIGGELARIA, in botany, so named 
from Francis Kiggelar of Holland, a genus 
of the Dioecia Decandria class and order. 
Natural order of Columniferae. Euphorbia', 
Jussieu. Essential character; male, calyx 
five-parted; corolla five-petalled ; glands 
five, three-lobed ; anthers perforated at the 
tip: female, calyx and corolla as in the 
male ; styles five ; capsule one-celled, five- 
valved, many-seeded. Tliere is but one 
species, ris. K. africana. This plant grows 
naturally at tlie Cape of Good Hope, where 
it rises to a tree of middling stature; the 
branches have a smooth bark, wliich is at 
first green, afterwards it changes to a pur- 
plish colour: the leaves are about three 
inches long and one broad, sawed on their 
edges, standing upon short foot-stalks alter- 
nately. The flowers come out in clusters 
from the side df the branches, hanging down- 
wards : they are of an herbaceous white 
colour, appearing in May, at which time 
the plants are thinly garnished with leaves, 
most of the old ones dropping off just be- 
fore the new leaves appear. The male 
flowers fall away soon after their farina is 
shed ; but the hermaphrodite, or female 
flowers are succeeded by globular fruit the 
size of common red cherries; the cover of 
these is very rough, and of a thick con- 
sistence, opening in five valves at the top, 
having one cell fillfed with small angular 
KIN 
seeds. These fruits have grown to their 
full size in the Chelsea garden ; but the 
seeds have rarely come to maturity. 
KILDERKIN, a liquid measure, con- 
taning two firkins, or eighteen gallons. 
KING ^ England. The executive power 
in England is vested in a single person by 
immemorial usage, to whom the care of the 
people is entrusted, and to whom, there- 
fore, allegiance is due. Formerly the suc- 
cession being interrupted, there was occa- 
sionally a distinction between a rightful 
king, or king dejure, and a king in posses- 
sion of the throne, or king dc facto ; and 
in cases of treason, and also with respect to 
many acts done by kings de facto, which 
were necessary to be recognised by kings 
de jure afterwards, this distinction was of 
great importance : but it seems now only 
necessary to consider the rightful power and 
authority of the King, lawfully and peace- 
ably in possession of the throne. And in 
this country the crown is by common law 
hereditary in a peculiar manner, but not 
dejure divino ; and it may be changed in 
the limitation of its descent by the autho- 
rity of the King, Lords, and Commons in 
pai'liament assembled, but it is not elec- 
tive. As to the mode of inheritance, it is 
generally the same as other feodal descents, 
but it differs in one or tw'o particulars ; for 
it descends regularly to lineal descendants 
by right of prunogeniture : but in case of 
no male heir, it descends to the eldest 
daughter only, and to her issue, and not in 
coparcenary to all the daughters. In failure 
of lineal heirs it goes to collateral descen- 
dants, but there is no failure «n account of 
half blood. Lands also purchased by the 
King descend with the crown. The inheri- 
tance is not indefeasable, but may be al- 
tered as above, and therefore the statutes 
have expressed “ his Majesty, his heirs, and 
successors.” But however limited or trans- 
ferred, it still retains its hereditabte quality 
to the wearer of it ; and hence the King 
never dies, but his right vests ea instanti in 
his heir ; so that Hail says, there can be no 
interregnum, and the death of the King is 
called tiie demise of the crown, which or- 
dinarily means only a transfer from one to 
another. If the throne becomes vacant, 
whether by abdication, as in tlie time of 
James H., or by failure of all heirs, the 
two houses o( parliament may, it is said 
by Blackstone, dispose of it. 
The preamble to tlie bill of rights ex- 
pressly declares, that the lords spiritual and 
temporal, and commons, ^ assembled at 
