FELONIES
Noun
felonies
plural of felony
Anagrams
• olefines
Source: Wiktionary
FELONY
Fel"o*ny, n.; pl. Felonies. Etym: [OE. felonie cruelty, OF. felonie,
F. félonie treachery, malice. See Felon, n.]
1. (Feudal Law)
Definition: An act on the part of the vassal which cost him his fee by
forfeiture. Burrill.
2. (O.Eng.Law)
Definition: An offense which occasions a total forfeiture either lands or
goods, or both, at the common law, and to which capital or other
punishment may be added, according to the degree of guilt.
3. A heinous crime; especially, a crime punishable by death or
imprisonment.
Note: Forfeiture for crime having been generally abolished in the
United States, the term felony, in American law, has lost this point
of distinction; and its meaning, where not fixed by statute, is
somewhat vague and undefined; generally, however, it is used to
denote an offense of a high grade, punishable either capitally or by
a term of imprisonment. In Massachusetts, by statute, any crime
punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison, and no
other, is a felony; so in New York. the tendency now is to obliterate
the distinction between felonies and misdemeanors; and this has been
done partially in England, and completely in some of the States of
the Union. The distinction is purely arbitrary, and its entire
abolition is only a question of time.
Note: There is no 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; but
subsequent acts of Parliament have declared various offenses to be
felonies, without enjoining that penalty, and have taken away the
penalty from others, which continue, nevertheless, to be called
felonies, insomuch that the acts so called have now no property
whatever in common, save that of being unlawful and purnishable. J.
S. Mill.
To compound a felony
Definition: . See under Compound, v. t.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition