Common law offence
Common law offences are crimes under
Australia
Under the
Canada
In
England and Wales
In
Common law offences that have been abolished or redefined as statutory offences are listed at History of English criminal law § Common law offences.
List of offences under the common law of England
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
This list includes offences that have been abolished or codified in one or more or all jurisdictions.[clarification needed]
A
- Accessory
- Administration of drugs with intent to enable or assist the commission of a crime
- Administration of poison with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy any person
- Affray
- Arson
- Assault with intent to rape
- Assault with intent to rob
- Attempt
B
- Barratry
- Battery
- Being a common scold
- Blasphemy
- Blasphemous libel
- Breach of prison (escape with use of force)
- Bribery
- Buggery
- Burglary
C
- Champerty
- Cheating
- Common assault aka assault
- Compounding treason
- Compounding a felony
- Concealment of treasure trove
- Conspiracy
- criminal contempt, contumacy
- Contempt of the sovereign
D
- Defamatory libel (sometimes known as criminal libel, although this can refer to several offences of libel)
- Disabling in order to commit an indictable offence (in other words choking or strangulation)
E
F
- Fabrication of false evidence
- Forcible entry
- Forcible detainer
- Forgery
H
- Harbouring a fugitive or felon
I
K
L
M
- Maintenance
- Manslaughter
- Mayhem
- Misprision of felony (disputed – alleged not to exist)
- Misprision of treason (disputed – alleged to be statutory)
- Murder
N
- Nightwalking (so as to cause alarm)
O
P
- Petty treason
- Piracy
- Challenging to fight
- Public mischief(disputed – held to no longer exist)
- Public nuisance
R
- Rape
- Rescue/rescuing a prisoner in custody
- Riot
- Robbery
- Rout (unlawful assembly with intent to riot)
- Running a disorderly house
S
T
U
W
- Wilful fireraising and culpable and reckless fireraising
High crimes and misdemeanours
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- Abuse of authority
- Acceptance of a bribe
- Failure to supervise
- Conduct unbecoming
- Dereliction of duty
- Desertion, Away without leave
- Failure to appear: subpoena, militia call-up, jury notice
- False imprisonment
- Insubordination, Failure to obey a lawful order
- Misappropriation of funds
- Misconduct in public office
- Obstruction of justice, perverting the course of justice, defeating the ends of justice, obstructing the administration of justice
- Perjury of oath
New Zealand
In New Zealand the ability to be proceeded against at common law for being a party to a criminal offence was abolished by section six of the Criminal Code Act 1893.[5] Section five of the Crimes Act, 1908 (which replaced the 1893 enactment),[6] and section 9 of the Crimes Act 1961 (which replaced the 1908 enactment) affirmed the abolition of criminal proceedings at common law, with the exception of contempt of court and of offences tried by courts martial.[7]
United States
The notion that common law offences could be enforced in federal courts was found to be unconstitutional by the
At the state level, the situation varies. Some states, such as New Jersey, have abolished common law crimes (see State v. Palendrano), while others have chosen to continue to recognize them. In some states, the elements of many crimes are defined mostly or entirely by common law, i.e., by prior judicial decisions. For instance, Michigan's penal code does not define the crime of murder: while the penalties for murder are laid out in statute, the actual elements of murder, and their meaning, is entirely set out in case law.[9][10][11]
See also
- Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali
References
- ^ History of Australian Criminal Law, Parliament of Australia Library Archived 30 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Legislating the Criminal Code". Law Commission.
- ^ "Criminal Law: A Criminal Code". Law Commission.
- ^ Rozenberg, Joshua (14 March 2021). "More than a nuisance". A Lawyer Writes.
- ^ White, Stephen. "The making of the New Zealand Criminal Code Act of 1893: A sketch [1986]" (PDF). Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 353. Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
- ^ "Crimes Act, 1908 No. 42, s. 5" (PDF). The University of Auckland, Early New Zealand Statutes. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
- ^ "Crimes Act 1961 No 43 (as at 28 September 2017), Public Act 9 Offences not to be punishable except under New Zealand Acts – New Zealand Legislation". www.legislation.govt.nz.
- ^ Anthony J. Fejfar (2009), "Common Law Crimes Are Unconstitutional as Ex Post Facto Laws"
- ^ People v. Aaron, 409 Mich. 672, 713 (Michigan Supreme Court 1980) ("In Michigan, murder is not statutorily defined.").
- ^ Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.316. 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.317. 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2018.