Misdemeanour, 1. A crime that is less serious than a felony and is usually punishable by fine, penalty. Forfeiture or confinement in a place other than prison, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1014.
Misdemeanour, a crime less than felony, as perjury, obtaining money by false pretences, endeavouring to conceal a birth, and fradulently obtaining property on credit and not having paid for it within four months of bankruptcy, which are misdemeanours by statute; and any attempt to commit a felony or misdemeanour, whether the crime attempted be so by statute or Common Law (Arch. Cr.Pl., 2); any disobedience of a statute, Reg. v. Hall, (1891) 1 QB 747; any incitement of another to commit a felony where no such felony is actually committed, Reg. v. Gregory, (1867) LR 1 CCR 77; sale of provisions unfit for food, R. v. Dixon, (1814) 3 M&S 11; public nuisances (see NUISANCE); and very many other offences, which are misdemeanours at Common Law. 'In the present state of our law we can only define a misdemeanour by saying that every indictable offence which is neither treason nor felony is a misdemeanour' (Odgers on the Common Law, p. 130).
Similarly to statutory misdemeanours, to which no express punishment is attached, Common Law misdemeanours are punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both with or without hard labour.
Any greater felony includes a less felony, so that, e.g., on an indictment for murder there may be a conviction of manslaughter; but no felony includes a misdemeanour, so that at Common Law no person on an indictment for felony could be convicted of a misdemeanour; but various statutory enactments--.g., the (English) Criminal Procedure Act, 1851 (14 & 15 Vict. c. 100), s. 9, by which a person indicted for any felony may be found not guilty of the felony, but guilty of the attempt to commit it--have abrogated the Common Law rule. Consult Archbold's Crim. Plead.
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