Criminal Law Common Law Origins in the United States

Criminal Law in the United States: Common Law Origins

Introduction to Criminal Law Common Law Origins

The common law began developing in England a millennium or more ago. Until the mid-17th century, the English Parliament (legislature) did not convene regularly. As a result, judges rather than legislators often created, defined, and meted out punishment for crimes. Many of the crimes thus created-called common law crimes, as distinguished from statutory crimes-still influence the definition of crime in England and the United States. Among the major common law crimes are murder and manslaughter, mayhem, rape, larceny, robbery, burglary, and arson (all common law felonies) and assault and battery, perjury, forgery, bribery, and conspiracy (all common law misdemeanors). Even in the early days, however, gaps sometimes appeared in the network of judge-made criminal law, and the legislature enacted statutes to fill the gaps in the common law definition of crimes.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

• Information about Criminal Law Common Law Origins in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Criminal Law Common Law Origins

In this Section

In this Section, contents include, among others: Criminal Law, Criminal Law Common Law Origins, Statutory Crimes,

Criminal Law Lawmaking Authority