classification of offence, indictable and summary offence, treasons, felonies, misdemeanors

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCES

Any class of objects the members of which are not identical to each other are capable of division into sub-classes in various ways depending on the purpose at hand.

Criminal cases are classified according to the subject matter;

1. offenses against the person,

2. against property,

3. against public order

To a criminologist, a classification based on the type and duration of punishment or on economic and social factors may be more useful.

To a statistician frequency of incidence is the principal mark of distinction.

Lawyers concerned with criminal law encounter it mostly in the form of a legal proceeding and therefore base their primary classification of offenses on the procedure.

From a procedural point of view offenses against the criminal law are divided into offenses triable on indictment, which requires trial by jury,

And offenses triable summarily, which are normally heard and determined by a single magistrate.

TREASONS, FELONIES, AND MISDEMEANOURS

A common law crime might be classified either as treason, felony, or misdemeanor. Originally the distinction between felony and misdemeanor was a distinction between serious and minor offenses but over the years this distinction, though always broadly discernible, became blurred.

The practical importance of the distinction came to lie in certain consequences which turned on whether the offense felony or a misdemeanor.

INDICTABLE AND SUMMARY OFFENCES

For procedural purposes crimes are classified as indictable and summary offenses.

Summary offenses are offenses that may try by courts having summary jurisdiction and the trial is conducted by magistrates without a jury; all proceedings on the indictment, which always takes place with a jury, are now brought before the Crown Court.

The classification of offenses as indictable and summary broadly reflects a distinction between serious and minor crimes. Some offenses are so obviously serious that they are triable only on indictment, and some offenses are so obviously minor that they can be tried only summarily. But there are very many crimes the gravity of which turns upon the particular circumstances of the case.