Felony

“ If a man receives, harbors, or otherwise assists to elude justice, one whom he knows to be guilty of a felony, he becomes thereby an accessory after the fact in the felony. 1 Bishop’s Crim. Law 487. Obviously, a man to be an accessory after the fact must be aware of the guilt of his principal; and, therefore, one can not become an accessory by helping to escape a prisoner convicted of felony, unless he has notice of the conviction, or at least of the felony committed. ”

“ An accessory before or after the fact of felony may be prosecuted and tried not only if the principal accused felon has been convicted, but even if he stood mute or peremptorily challenged over 20 persons to serve on the jury. The accessories shall be punished the same as if the principal had been attainted. Buyers and receivers of stolen goods may be prosecuted and punished if they knew the goods to be stolen, even if the principal felon has not been convicted. The punishment will be as for misdemeanor by fine and imprisonment. ”

“ Any private individual may, by night or day, arrest without warrant one whom he sees committing a felony or a breach of the peace or running off with goods which he has stolen. If he knows that a felony has been committed and has reasonable grounds for suspecting that it was the act of a certain person, he may arrest the latter, although without personal knowledge of his guilt. ”

“ An accessory after the fact is when a person, knowing a felony to have been committed, receives, relieves, comforts, or assists him whom he knows to be the felon. He must know that the felon is guilty to make him an accessory. ”

“ If any person or persons, disguised or in mask, by day or by night, shall enter upon the premises of another, or demand entrance or admission into the house or inclosure of any citizen of this State, it shall be considered prima facie that his or her intention is to commit a felony, and such demand shall be deemed an assault with an intent to commit a felony, and the person or persons so offending, shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than ten years nor more than twenty years. ”

“ The man who offers it becomes an accused felon (for the Secretary of War too sublime and vigorous for the slow-paced decencies of law holds that felony is a something not necessarily determined by the sentence of a Jury, but dependent on his individual opinion) the man who offers it becomes an accused felon. ”

“ Whoever attempts or participates in an attempt to do anything in violation of section 2 shall be guilty of a felony. [p. 26] "Sec. 5. Whoever commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of section 2 shall be guilty of a felony. ”

“ If one in the heat of a fight, intending to disable or maim his antagonist, should cut him ever so slightly, he is guilty of a felony, but, if he “on purpose, and of malice aforethought by lying in wait, shall unlawfully cut out the tongue, put out an eye, cut off the nose * * * or cut off any limb” of his victim, he commits only a misdemeanor. ”

“ Putting aside for the present the utter want of all reasonable motive for the commission of a felony—the perpetration of a crime by a man of good fame, family, and fortune—this extraordinary purposeless deed, for which only the wildest condition of insanity could account, he would briefly run over the evidence for the defence. ”

“ It is allowed, that a man attainted of felony cannot sit in parliament, and the commons probably judged, that, not being bound to the forms of law, they might treat these as felons, whose crimes were, in their opinion, equivalent to felony ”

“ While it is true that almost all crimes which in the middle ages were considered heinous fall into the categories of treason or felony, many statutory misdemeanours differ so little, if at all, from felony in character or in the mode of punishment that, in the absence of a code, no logical line of division can now be drawn, inasmuch as few felonies are now capital and none involve the forfeitures of land or goods, which at one time afforded an appreciable distinction between the two categories of crime. ”

“ The rule of the common law, that a peace officer or a private citizen may arrest a felon without a warrant, has been generally held by the courts of the several states to be in force in cases of felony punishable by the civil tribunals. ”

“ The felony consists both of the former convictions and of the particular larceny. . . . [T] he former convictions were a separate fact; which, taken in connection with the facts constituting the last offense, make a distinct and greater offense than that charged, exclusive of the prior convictions. ”

“ But subsequent statutes have put the crime and punishment of mayhem more out of doubt. For, first, by statute 5 Hen. IV. c. 5. to remedy a mischief that then prevailed, of beating, wounding, or robbing a man, and then cutting out his tongue or putting out his eyes, to prevent him from being an evidence against them, this offence is declared to be felony, if done of malice prepense ”

“ The result of legislative changes is that at the present time the only practical distinctions between felony and misdemeanour are:—
1. That a private person may arrest a felon without judicial authority and that bail on arrest is granted as a matter of discretion and not as of right. ”

“ But I was not put to that trouble; for the Recorder addressing the jury, said, "Gentlemen, I must in this stage of the trial, deliver it as my opinion, that I cannot see any grounds for charging the prisoner with felony. Gentlemen, the accident of finding a snuff-box might have happened to one of yourselves, to me, or to any other honest man; and, it would be hard indeed if such an accident should subject the finder to a prosecution for felony. If you are of my opinion, it will be unnecessary to recapitulate the evidence, or put the prisoner upon his defence." ”

“ The law, therefore, makes it a positive condition that before any one, whether he be citizen or officer, may arrest another for a felony not committed in his presence the felony must in fact have been committed. Thus the right to apprehend a suspected wrong-doer is invoked at the peril of him who seeks to exercise it. If no felony has been committed the arrest is illegal. ”

“ Any rule which will peremptorily discharge a prisoner, legally convicted of an offence, whether it be a felony or misdemeanor, merely because the court committed an error in pronouncing the sentence, cannot be a sound one, nor is it believed that it will be satisfactory to any who have much acquaintance with the administration of criminal justice in the Federal courts. ”

“ A person who is indicted for, or arraigned on a warrant charging, a violent felony which is alleged to have been committed while the person was on bail, pending the disposition of a prior violent felony charge or while the person was on probation or parole as a result of a prior conviction for a violent felony. ”

“ He may also, at night, without a warrant, arrest any person whom he has reasonable cause for believing to have committed a felony, and is justified in making the arrest, though it afterwards appear that a felony had been committed, but that the person arrested did not commit it. ”

“ For instance; if several persons agree to commit a murder, or other felony, and each man takes his part: some are appointed to commit the fact, others to watch at a distance to prevent a surprise, or to favour the escape of those who are more immediately engaged; the law says, that if the felony be committed, it is the act of all of them; for each man operated in his station towards the commission of it, at one and the same instant. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That if in the act of violating any provision in either of the two preceding sections, any other felony, crime, or misdemeanor shall be committed, the offender, on conviction of such violation of said sections, shall be punished for the same with such punishments as are attached to the said felonies, crimes, and misdemeanors by the laws of the State in which the offence may be committed. ”

“ Anyone receiving or buying goods they know to be stolen or who harbors or conceals any burglars, felons, or thieves knowing them to be such shall be taken as accessory to the felony and shall suffer death as punishment if the principal felon is convicted. ”

“ When a Hue and Cry is raised, every private Man is not only justified in pursuing; but may be obliged by Command of the Constable to pursue the Felon, and is punishable, if he disobey, by Fine and Imprisonment. [21] And in this Case whether a Felony was committed or not, or whether the Person arrested (provided he be the Person named or described by the Hue and Cry) be guilty or innocent, or of evil or good Fame, the Arrest is lawful and justifiable, and he who raised the Hue and Cry is alone to answer for the Justice of it. ”

“ Abolition of distinction between felony and misdemeanour. 1.— (1) All distinctions between felony and misdemeanour are hereby abolished.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, on all matters on which a distinction has previously been made between felony and misdemeanour, including mode of trial, the law and practice in relation to all offences cognisable under the law of England and Wales (including piracy) shall be the law and practice applicable at the commencement of this Act in relation to misdemeanour. ”

“ In the case of felony, where but the life of a single individual is at stake—nay, not only in the case of felony, but in the case of a simple misdemeanour, or even in the simple case of debt—we see the questions of yes or no examined by the Judges of the land with due rigour ”

“ The Constitution of the United States and of every State has made it a part of the fundamental law of the land that "no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury," except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger. A felony is an infamous crime. ”

“ The statutory authority of FBI officers and agents to make felony arrests without a warrant is restricted to offenses committed 'in their presence' or to instances where they have 'reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing' a felony. ”

“ Any person who, by word of mouth, or writing, advocates, affirmatively suggests or teaches the duty, necessity, propriety or expediency of crime, criminal syndicalism, or sabotage, * * * is guilty of a felony. ”

“ If a man steals goods to the value of 12d., or above, it is felony, and he shall die for it. If it is under the value of 12d., then it is but petit larceny, and he shall not die for it, but shall be punished at the discretion of the judges. This not apply to goods taken from the person, which is robbery, a felony punishable by death.
12. If the son is attainted [convicted of treason or felony with the death penalty and forfeiture of all lands and goods] in the life of the father, and after he purchases his charter of pardon of the King, and after the father dies ”

“ An indictment has been found against a peer of the realm by a grand jury of the country, charging him with a felony, the punishment of which is transportation 368or imprisonment. That indictment has been removed before your lordships, at the request of the noble prisoner ”

“ Indeed, in Webster's Dictionary, after the common-law definition of the term, there are quoted from John Stuart Mill these pertinent observations: 'There is not a lawyer who would undertake to tell what a felony is, otherwise than by enumerating the various kinds of offenses which are so called. Originally, the word 'felony' had a meaning. It denoted all offenses, the penalty of which included forfeiture of goods. ”

“ So, when a member stood indicted for felony, it was adjudged that he ought to remain of the House till conviction; for it may be any man’s case, who is guiltless, to be accused and indicted of felony, or the like crime. ”

“ As used in this subsection—
" (B) the term 'violent felony' means any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year ... that
" (i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another; or
" (ii) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another." ”

“ Roughly speaking, a person lawfully engaged in arresting another for a felony or in preventing the escape of such an one lawfully arrested, may use all the force necessary for the purpose, even to taking the life of the prisoner. ”

“ A private person is bound to arrest for a felony committed in his presence, under penalty of fine and imprisonment. By the Prevention of Offences Act 1851, a private person is allowed to arrest any one whom he finds committing an indictable offence by night, and under the Malicious Damage Act 1861, any person committing an offence against that act may be arrested without warrant by the owner of the property damaged, or his servants, or persons authorized by him. ”

“ In the instant case we are dealing with a statute that invokes punishment as for a felony where the same conduct, if committed in a non-labor dispute, would be a misdemeanor—an offense as to which the guilty party might be discharged upon payment of a small fine, as compared with a possible two-year prison term. ”