Editing Felony (section)

== Other jurisdictions ==

=== Cameroon ===
In the law of Cameroon, a felony is a crime for which the maximum sentence is more than 10 years, or [[capital punishment in Cameroon|death]].<ref>Republic of Cameroon, Law No. 2016/007 of July 12, 2016, Relating to the Penal Code, section 21. Available in [https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/files/live/Cameroon/Cameroon%20-%20Penal%20Code.pdf English] (PDF) and [https://www.droit-afrique.com/uploads/Cameroun-Code-2016-penal1.pdf French] (PDF).</ref> Felonies are distinguished from misdemeanors (maximum sentence from 10 days to 10 years) and offenses (not exceeding 10 days).<ref name="galabe-2018">{{Cite web
  | url =  https://dayspringlaw.com/the-sentencing-system-under-cameroon-criminal-law/
  | accessdate = 2022-06-08
  | title = The Sentencing System under Cameroon Criminal Law
  | publisher = Dayspring Law Firm
  | author-first = Ferdinand Doh 
  | author-last = Galabe
  | date = January 2018
}}</ref> While lesser crimes are tried before a magistrate's court, felonies must be tried before a high court (''tribunal de grande instance'').<ref>{{Cite web
  | url =  https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/the-force-of-the-cameroon-legal-system-7156
  | accessdate = 2022-06-08
  | title = The Force of the Cameroon Legal System
  | author-first = Feh Henry 
  | author-last = Baaboh 
  | date = n.d.
  | publisher = Henry, Samuelson & Co.
}}</ref>

The drafters of the bilingual Cameroonian penal code of 1967 based their work on [[French law]] and [[Nigerian law]]. In the case of felonies, they chose to set the threshold for felonies much higher than under either French law (five years) or Nigerian law (three years). This had the effect of greatly reducing the number of felonies under Cameroonian law.  It also reduced the number of crimes that were subject to [[Jury trial|trial by jury]] in the courts of East Cameroon at that time.<ref name="smith-1968">{{Cite journal
  | title = The Cameroon Penal Code: Practical Comparative Law 
  | author-first = J. A. Clarence 
  | author-last = Smith 
  | journal = The International and Comparative Law Quarterly
  | volume = 17
  | issue = 3
  | date = July 1968
  | pages = 651–671
  | doi = 10.1093/iclqaj/17.3.651 
 | jstor = 757015 
 | url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/757015
| url-access = subscription}}</ref>

===England and Wales===
====History====
[[William Blackstone|Sir William Blackstone]] wrote in the 18th century that felony "comprises every species of crime, which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods".<ref name="Blackstone 4-7">Blackstone, W. (1765). ''[http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/blackstone/bla-407.htm Commentaries on the Laws of England] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201033251/http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/blackstone/bla-407.htm |date=2012-02-01 }}'' (Book IV chapter 7) Oxford: [[Clarendon Press]].</ref> The word ''felony'' was feudal in origin, denoting the value of a man's entire property: "the consideration for which a man gives up his fief".<ref name="Blackstone">Blackstone.</ref>{{efn|The common-law felonies were: murder, manslaughter, mayhem, robbery, larceny, rape, sodomy, arson, and burglary.<ref>Legal Information Institute, [https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/criminal_law Criminal Law]; accessed 2021.08.28.</ref>}}  Blackstone refutes the misconception that felony simply means an offense punishable by death, by demonstrating that not every felony is capital, and not every [[Capital punishment|capital offense]] is a felony. However he concedes that "the idea of felony is indeed so generally connected with that of capital punishment, that we find it hard to separate them; and to this usage the interpretations of the law do now conform."<ref name="Blackstone 4-7"/>

The death penalty for felony could be avoided by pleading [[benefit of clergy]], which gradually evolved to exempt everybody (whether clergy or not) from that punishment for a first offense, except for [[high treason]] and offenses expressly excluded by statute. During the 19th century criminal law reform incrementally reduced the number of capital offences (see [[Capital punishment in the United Kingdom]]), and forfeiture for felony was abolished by the [[Forfeiture Act 1870]]. Consequently, the distinction between felony and misdemeanor became increasingly arbitrary. The surviving differences consisted of different rules of evidence and procedure, and the [[Law Commission (England and Wales)|Law Commission]] recommended that felonies be abolished altogether. This was done by the [[Criminal Law Act 1967]], which set the criminal practice for all crimes as that of misdemeanor and introduced a new system of classifying crimes as either "arrestable" and "non-arrestable" offenses (according to which a general power of arrest was available for crimes punishable by five years' imprisonment or more).

Arrestable offenses were abolished in 2006,<ref>[[Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005]].</ref> and today crimes are classified as [[Indictable offence|indictable]] or [[Summary offence|summary]] offenses, the only distinction being the mode of trial (by jury in the [[Crown Court]] or summarily in a [[magistrates' court (England and Wales)|magistrates' court]], respectively).

====Procedure====
The [[Trials for Felony Act 1836]] (6 & 7 Will. 4 c. 114) allowed persons indicted for felonies to be represented by counsel or attorney.

====Terminology====
A person being prosecuted for this was called a [[Prisoner#English law|prisoner]], though increasingly "accused" or "defendant" was preferred.<ref>[[Owen Hood Phillips|O. Hood Phillips]]. ''A First Book of English Law''. [[Sweet and Maxwell]]. Fourth Edition. 1960. Page 151.</ref>

=== Germany ===
A felony ({{lang|de|Verbrechen}}, a word also translated in less technical contexts as simply "crime") is defined in the {{lang|de|[[Strafgesetzbuch]]}} (Criminal Code, StGB) as an unlawful act ({{lang|de|rechtswidrige Tat}}) that is punishable with a minimum of one year's imprisonment.<ref>[http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stgb/__12.html StGB Section 12: Felonies and Misdemeanours], Bundesministerium der Justiz. "Verbrechen sind rechtswidrige Taten, die im Mindestmaß mit Freiheitsstrafe von einem Jahr oder darüber bedroht sind."</ref> A misdemeanor (''Vergehen'') is any other crime punishable by imprisonment with a minimum of less than one year or by fine.<ref>[http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stgb/__12.html StGB Section 12: Felonies and Misdemeanours], Bundesministerium der Justiz. "Vergehen sind rechtswidrige Taten, die im Mindestmaß mit einer geringeren Freiheitsstrafe oder die mit Geldstrafe bedroht sind."</ref>

However, in some cases a severe version of a misdemeanor may be punished with imprisonment of more than one year, yet the crime itself remains considered a misdemeanor. The same applies for a milder version of a felony that is punished with imprisonment less than a year.<ref>[http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stgb/__12.html StGB Section 12: Felonies and Misdemeanors], Bundesministerium der Justiz. "Schärfungen oder Milderungen, die nach den Vorschriften des Allgemeinen Teils oder für besonders schwere oder minder schwere Fälle vorgesehen sind, bleiben für die Einteilung außer Betracht."</ref>

An [[attempt]] to commit a felony is itself a crime, whereas an attempt to commit a misdemeanor is a crime only if specifically prescribed as such by law.<ref>[http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stgb/__23.html StGB Section 23: Criminality of the Attempt], Bundesministerium der Justiz. "Der Versuch eines Verbrechens ist stets strafbar, der Versuch eines Vergehens nur dann, wenn das Gesetz es ausdrücklich bestimmt."</ref>

===Ireland===
In [[law of the Republic of Ireland|Irish law]] the distinction between felony and misdemeanor was abolished by section 3 of the Criminal Law Act, 1997, such that the law previously applied to misdemeanors was extended to all offenses.<ref name="irlact1997">{{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0014/|title=Criminal Law Act, 1997|publisher=[[Irish Statute Book]]|access-date=12 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616100205/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0014/|archive-date=16 June 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |format=PDF |url=http://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/consultation%20papers/cpCourtsActs.pdf#page=107 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703022604/http://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/consultation%20papers/cpCourtsActs.pdf |archive-date=2010-07-03 |url-status=live |title=CONSOLIDATION AND REFORM OF THE COURTS ACTS |publisher=Law Reform Commission |page=89, fn.298 |journal=Law Reform Commission Consultation Papers |issue=46–2007 |year=2007 |access-date=12 June 2013}}</ref> Minister [[Joan Burton]], introducing the bill in the [[Seanad Éireann|Seanad]], said "The distinction has been eroded over many years and in today's conditions has no real relevance. Today, for example, serious offenses such as [[Criminal conversion|fraudulent conversion]] and obtaining property by [[false pretenses]] are classified as misdemeanors whereas a relatively trivial offense such as stealing a bar of chocolate is a felony."<ref name="seanad1997">{{cite web |url=http://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1997-02-26/5/ |title=Criminal Law Bill, 1996: Second Stage. |date=26 February 1997 |work=Seanad Éireann debates |access-date=12 June 2013}}</ref> The 1997 Act, modeled on the English [[Criminal Law Act 1967]], introduced the category of "arrestable offense" for those with penalties of five years' imprisonment or greater.<ref name="irlact1997" /><ref name="seanad1997"/>

The [[Constitution of Ireland|1937 Constitution]] declares that the [[parliamentary privilege]], which protects [[Oireachtas]] members from arrest traveling to or from the legislature, does not apply to "[[Treason in the Republic of Ireland|treason]], felony, and [[breach of the peace]]".<ref>Constitution of Ireland, Article 15.13</ref> The 1996 Constitutional Review Group recommended replacing "felony" with "serious criminal offence".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.constitution.ie/Documents/Oireachtas%201st-%20Progress%20Report%201997.pdf#page=38 |title=Report |author=Constitution Review Group |year=1996 |publisher=Stationery Office |no-pp=y |page=§4: felony or breach of the peace |access-date=8 August 2013 |location=Dublin |archive-date=17 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017190554/https://www.constitution.ie/Documents/Oireachtas%201st-%20Progress%20Report%201997.pdf#page=38 |url-status=dead }}</ref>