felony and misdemeanour

felony and misdemeanour, in Anglo-American law, classification of criminal offenses according to the seriousness of the crime.

U.S. jurisdictions generally distinguish between felonies and misdemeanours. A class of minor offenses that may be described as petty offenses or quasi-crimes is also recognized. These last offenses sometimes are created by local ordinance or by regulatory statute, and the requirement of trial by jury does not apply.

In U.S. law the classification of a crime as a felony or as a misdemeanour is ordinarily determined by the penalties attached to the offense. A felony is typically defined as a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment of one year or more. Misdemeanours are often defined as offenses punishable only by fines or by short terms of imprisonment in local jails. A consequence of conviction for a felony rather than a misdemeanour is that the offender may lose some civil rights. These vary from state to state, but they usually include the right to own or possess firearms, the right to vote, and the right to hold public office.

Crimes in England are classified into indictable offenses (which may be tried by a jury) and summary offenses (which may be tried summarily without juries). Indictable offenses are further divided into treasons, other felonies, and misdemeanours. The law of England has employed no consistent principle to determine the classification of an offense as a felony. In some instances, crimes classified as misdemeanours involve greater social peril than many statutory felonies, and penalties for misdemeanours may exceed those for felonies.

The distinction between felony and misdemeanour is less significant for modern law than formerly, and many commentators have questioned its utility. Classifications distinguishing offenses of greater dangerousness from lesser crimes appear in continental European codes: thus, the French penal code distinguishes between délits and contraventions (see crime, délit, and contravention). The classification of offenses in English and U.S. law has been criticized as capricious and unsatisfactory.