{"id":13172,"date":"2018-02-06T06:07:39","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T06:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13172"},"modified":"2018-02-09T02:52:49","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T02:52:49","slug":"misdemeanor-a-crime-less-serious-than-a-felony-usually-punishable-by-fine-penalty-forfeiture-or-confinement-usually-a-brief-term-in-jail-rather-than-prison","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13172","title":{"rendered":"Misdemeanor – less serious than a felony, usually punished by fine, penalty, forfeiture, or a brief term in jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from Criminal Law Self-Help<\/a> >>>> Classifications of Various Types of Laws and Offenses<\/a> >>>> Varying Degrees of Crimes<\/a>:<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

**********************<\/p>\n

misdemeanor<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong>
\n(16c)<\/span><\/p>\n

1. A crime that is less serious than a felony<\/a> and is usually punishable by fine, penalty, forfeiture, or confinement (usually for a brief term) in a place other than prison (such as a county jail).<\/strong> \u2014 Also spelled (BrE) misdemeanour<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. \u2014 aka minor crime<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; summary offense<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Customarily, an indictable offense not amounting to a felony, but sometimes including offenses not punishable by indictment. Commonwealth v Cano<\/em>, 389 Pa 639, 133 A2d 800, cert den <\/span><\/span>and app dismd 355 US 182, 2 L Ed 2d 186, 78 S Ct 267<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The distinction between misdemeanors and felonies<\/a> now commonly adopted, frequently by statute, <\/span>is that offenses punishable by death, or by imprisonment in the state prison or penitentiary, are felo<\/a><\/span>nies, whereas all others, including those punishable <\/span>by imprisonment in the county jail, are misdemeanors. Roberson v United States<\/em> (CA5 Ala) 249 F 2d <\/span><\/span><\/strong>737, 72 ALR2d 434, cert den 356 US 919, 2 L Ed 2d 715, 78 S Ct 704 (under Alabama law)<\/span>; Eekhardt v People<\/em>, 126 C010 18, 247 P2d 673<\/span>.\u00a0 It is also to be observed that in some jurisdictions, there is a classification, particularly in reference to violations of the Motor Vehicle Law, where the breach is deemed, neither a misdemeanor nor a felony, but an \u201coffense.\u201d<\/strong> [2]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. A crime not amounting to a felony.\u00a0 in many jurisdictions, misdemeanors are offenses for which the punishment is incarceration for less than a year (generally in a jail, rather than in a prison or the penitentiary) or the payment of\u00a0 a fine.<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Compare infraction<\/em>; petty offense<\/em>. [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce’s Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> (3d ed. 1982):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c\u2018Misdemeanor’ was the label ultimately adopted to apply to all offenses other than<\/span> treason<\/a> or <\/span>felony<\/a>.\u00a0 The term included a wide variety of wrongs and misprisions.\u00a0 Many of the substantive legal principles and procedures applicable to felonies<\/a> were not applied in the case of misdemeanors.\u00a0 The difference in treatment between felonies and misdemeanors has carried over from common law to current <\/span><\/span><\/strong>practice, and today misdemeanors are often treated differently than felonies [in] the procedures employed in trying such cases as well as [in] the consequences of a conviction.\u00a0 The traditional distinction between felonies and misdemeanors has been abolished in England.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

Various Types of Misdemeanors:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

high misdemeanor<\/span> –<\/strong> (17C) 1.<\/strong> Hist. English law<\/em>. A crime that ranked just below high treason in seriousness.\u00a0 *\u00a0 In English law, the term was essentially synonymous with crime.\u00a0 Examples of crimes called high misdemeanors are riot and conspiracy<\/a>.\u00a0 In early American law, the term had the same meaning as in English law and was used in defining crimes such as sedition.\u00a0 2.<\/strong> (18c) A serious misdemeanor, though not a felony.<\/strong> \u2014 aka gross misdemeanor<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. 3.<\/strong> (1893) One of a class of misdemeanors having more severe penalties than most other misdemeanors.\u00a0 *\u00a0 Conduct rising to the level of a serious misdemeanor can, in some jurisdictions, be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor. serious misdemeanor.<\/strong> \u2014 aka serious misdemeanor<\/strong><\/em><\/span>; indictable misdemeanor<\/strong><\/em><\/span>; penitentiary misdemeanor<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; aggravated misdemeanor<\/span><\/strong><\/em>.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

treasonable misdemeanor<\/span> –<\/strong> See TREASONABLE MISDEMEANOR.<\/span><\/p>\n

misdemeanor in office<\/span> –<\/strong> See official misconduct<\/em> under MISCONDUCT.<\/span><\/p>\n

misdemeanor manslaughter<\/span> –<\/strong> See MANSLAUGHTER.<\/span><\/p>\n

misdemeanor-manslaughter rule<\/span> –<\/strong> (1967) The doctrine that a death occurring during the commission of a misdemeanor (or sometimes a nondangerous felony) is involuntary manslaughter.\u00a0 *\u00a0 Many states and the Model Penal Code have abolished this rule.<\/strong>\u00a0 Cf. FELONY-MURDER RULE. [1]
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Paralleling the felony murder rule, a doctrine in some jurisdictions which declares than any death that takes place during the commission of a misdemeanor is involuntary manslaughter.<\/strong> [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce’s Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> (3d ed. 1982):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCompanion to the felony-murder rule is the so-called misdemeanor-manslaughter rule[:] . . . Homicide resulting from the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an unlawful act, less than a dangerous felony, is manslaughter if the unlawful act is malum in se.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [6]<\/span><\/p>\n

misdemeanant <\/span>– A person who has committed a misdemeanor.<\/strong> [2] [3]
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

misdemeanor<\/span>:<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Archaic<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Any crime, including a felony. <\/strong>[1]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from William Blackstone’s<\/span> Commentaries on the Laws of England<\/em><\/a> (1769):<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cA crime, or misdemeanor, is an act committed, or omitted, in violation of a public law, either forbidding or commanding it. This general definition comprehends both crimes and misdemeanors; which, properly speaking, are mere synonymous terms: though, in common usage, the word, \u2018crimes \u2019 is made to .denote such offences as are of a deeper and more atrocrous dye; while smaller faults, and omissions of less consequence, are comprised under the gentler name of <\/span><\/strong>\u2018misdemeanors\u2019 only.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [5]<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/span><\/span><\/strong> All material throughout this website is compiled in accordance with Fair Use<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]: Black\u2019s Law Dictionary\u00a0Deluxe Tenth Edition\u00a0by Henry Campbell Black & Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner<\/a>. ISBN: 978-0-314-62130-6<\/b><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[2]: Ballantine\u2019s Law Dictionary\u00a0<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/strong>with Pronunciations
\n<\/b><\/span><\/em>Third Edition<\/b><\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by James A. Ballantine\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/strong>(James Arthur 1871-1949).\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/em>Edited by William S. Anderson.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a9 1969 by THE LAWYER\u2019S CO-OPERATIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY.\u00a0 Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-30931<\/b><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[3]:\u00a0\u00a0Ballantine\u2019s Law Dictionary <\/a><\/b><\/span><\/strong>Legal Assistant Edition<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/em>
\nby Jack Ballantine\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/strong>(James Arthur 1871-1949).\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/em>Doctored<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/em>by\u00a0Jack G. Handler,\u00a0J.D.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a9 1994 Delmar by Thomson Learning.\u00a0 ISBN 0-8273-4874-6.<\/b><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[4]: Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> 15 (3d ed. 1982).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[5]: 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England<\/em><\/a> 5 (1769).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[6]: Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce,\u00a0Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> 108 (3d ed. 1982).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

*******************************<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to Back to Varying Degrees of Crimes<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back to <\/span>Classifications of Various Types of Laws and Offenses<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back to <\/span><\/span><\/strong>Criminal Law Self-Help<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Home Page<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like this website?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Please Support Our Fundraiser<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

or donate via\u00a0PayPal<\/a>:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n