User:Hairy Dude/Common law offence

Text from Common law offence. This section is primarily about England and Wales, not the common law generally, so I'm moving offences that have been abolished in England and Wales.

Many other jurisdictions' legal systems are descended from English law. Offences abolished or codified in English law may still be current in those other jurisdictions, or vice versa.

Current offences
The following are still offences under the common law of England and Wales.
 * Accessory
 * Arson
 * Cheating the public revenue
 * Compounding treason
 * Escape from lawful custody
 * Kidnapping
 * Misconduct in public office
 * Outraging public decency
 * Perverting the course of justice

Mode of trial or sentence established by statute
Some offences are defined (that is, their elements established) at common law, but have had their mode of trial or maximum sentence set by statute. These include:


 * Assault (sometimes called common assault, to distinguish it from other assaults)
 * Battery
 * Contempt of court [Contumacy was an offence against ecclesiastical law, not common law]
 * Manslaughter
 * Murder

Codified offences
The following were formerly offences at common law in England and Wales but have been codified by statute.

Abolished offences
The following offences have been abolished in England and Wales and are no longer crimes there. [Check what statutes abolished them or when they were held to be obsolete]


 * Barratry
 * Being a common scold
 * Blasphemy
 * Blasphemous libel
 * Buggery
 * Cheating (except as regards the public revenue)
 * Champerty
 * Compounding a felony (some specific compounding offences are statutory, e.g. assisting an escape)
 * Contempt of the sovereign (obsolete at common law)
 * Defamatory libel (sometimes known as criminal libel, although this can refer to several offences of libel)
 * Embracery (nowadays prosecuted as perverting the course of justice)
 * Maintenance
 * Petty treason
 * Rout

Unknown
A


 * Administration of drugs with intent to enable or assist the commission of a crime [Probably statutory]
 * Administration of poison with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy any person [Probably statutory]
 * Assault with intent to rape [Not listed on CPS website. Still a common law offence in Scotland, but this section is not about Scots law]
 * Assault with intent to rob [Is this the same as common assault i.e. covered by OAtPA 1861?]

C
 * Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman (military)

D
 * Dereliction of duty, refusal to execute public office
 * Desertion (military)
 * Disabling in order to commit an indictable offence (in other words choking or strangulation)

E
 * Eavesdropping
 * Effecting a public mischief (disputed - held to no longer exist)
 * Extortion

F
 * Failure to appear: subpoena, conscription, jury service [surely statutory]
 * Failure to supervise (military) [surely statutory]
 * Fabrication of false evidence [surely statutory – Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984?]
 * Forcible entry [surely statutory]
 * Forcible detainer [surely statutory]
 * Forgery [surely statutory]

H
 * Harbouring a fugitive or felon [surely statutory]
 * Housebreaking with intent to steal [surely statutory]

I
 * Incitement [statutory]
 * Insubordination (military)

K
 * Kidnapping (abduction) [surely statutory]

M
 * Maintenance [abolished by...?]
 * Malicious mischief
 * Misappropriation of funds [surely statutory]
 * Misprision of felony (disputed - alleged not to exist)
 * Misprision of treason (disputed - alleged to be statutory)
 * Mobbing

N
 * Nightwalking (so as to cause alarm) [Even a crime? Night walkers mentioned in Statute of Westminster 1331 (5 Edw. 3 c. 1) but seems not to define a crime, but establish a power of arrest subject to further bail. Similarly 13 Edw 1 c. 14 which only extended to the City of London]

P
 * Piracy [surely statutory]
 * Challenging to fight [abolished?]

S
 * Sedition [surely statutory, application very limited on freedom of speech grounds]
 * Seditious libel [ditto]