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SUMMARY Treason Murdrum Murder and Manslaughter LarmiJ Qwsi -thejl Breaking Bulk CHAPTER 2 THE FELONIES Statutory Crime! in the Nature ofLarceny Other Common Law FeloniesThe Recovery of Siolen Goods Receiving Stolen Good!Allempts PAGE 443 444 445 446 448 449 449 451 451 452 453 Even in Anglo-Saxon times, as we have seen, the Crown began to establish a list of pleas over'which it had particular rights. Some of these became, after the Conquest, felonies. Not all of them, however; the breach of the King's peace, for example, became steadily less serious as the peace became further extended. As a serious crime it was confined to the days when the peace was given (as it was also in France) by a solemn diploma under the royal seal. Felony is a feudal conception particularly applying to the breach of the fidelity and loyalty which should accompany the feudal relationship which has been consecrated by homage. Its characteristic punishment is therefore loss of tenement-escheat. On the continent felony was often confined to this class of crime, but in England, by means unknown, there came " a deep change in thought and feeling. An the hatred and contempt which are behind the wordfelon are enlisted against the criminal, murderer, robber, thief, without reference to any breach of the bond of homage and fealty ",1 The transition may have been helped by the fact that already in Anglo-Saxon law there were crimes which put their author at the absolute mercy of the King, their property, limb and life. The King's "great forfeiture" may thus have caused these crimes to be equated with true felony which resembled it. In any case, this extension of the meaning of felony must have been welcome to lords, for it was they who reaped the harvest of escheats (subject always to the King's wasting the tenement for a year and a day). The list of felonies during the middle ages was always short, and the definitions of the crimes within the list were generally narrow; they 11 P. & M., 304. 442 THE FELONIES 443 almost always were subject to benefit of clergy, and could always be prosecuted by appeal. Indeed, the appeal is distinctly an appeal offelony, and at least one crime, mayhem, was a felony if prosecuted by an appeal, although it was not a felony upon indictment.1 TREASON The history of treason in the middle ages is as distinctive as the nature of the offence. It is one of the very few crimes which were defined by statute during that period; and it is one of the equally few crimes whose scope was extended by " construction". Unlike treason, the mediaeval felony was (generally speaking) neither statutory nor constructive.I>. High Treason was never clergyable, and more than one prelate has paid the penalty; for a time, however, there were certain sanctuaries which claimed the extraordinary privilege of protecting traitors. The definition of treason before the statute was certainly wide, including the murder of royal messengers, and apparently even highway robbery. Such extensions fell heavily on lords who lost their escheats (for these offences were capital felonies even if they were not treason). The matter was therefore raised in Parliament with the result that the famous statute of treasons in 1352 laid down a definition, coupled with the proviso that any further definitions in doubtful cases shall be made in Parliament. The statute makes treason to consist in3H compassing or imagining the death of the king, his consort, or his eldest son; violating his consort, or eldest unmarried daughter, or the wife of his eldest son; levying war against the king in his realm, or adhering to his enemies in his realm, giving them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere; forging the great seal or the coinage, and knowingly importing or uttering false coin; slaying the treasurer, chancellor or judges while sitting in court; " all of which involved forfeiture of land and goods to the Crown. The statute further defined" another sort of treason" (which was generally called petty treason) as being- "the slaying of a master by his servant; the slaying of a husband by his wife; the slaying of a prelate by his subject, secular or religious." These were to involve escheat, and not forfeiture, of lands. Then follows the provision for the parliamentary declaration of treason in future cases not covered by the act, and a declaration that riding armed, 1 From 1275-1285 rape was in...

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