As to what, by the common law, is reckoned night and what day, it seems to be the general oplnlon that, if there be daylight, or crepusculum, enough begun or left to discern a man’s face, that is con-sidered day; and night is when it is so dark that the countenance of a man cannot be dis-cerned. 1 Hale, P. C. 350. However, the limlj: of 9 p. it. to 6 a. u. has been fixed by statute, in England, as the period of night, in prosecutions for burglary and larceny. St 24 & 25 Vlct. c. 96, $ 1; Brown. In Amer-ican law, the common-law definition is still adhered to in some states, but in others “night” has been defined by statute as tbe period between sunset and sunrise
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
