Is it a rejection of Englishness from their early days?
2007-05-12 19:26:57 · 11 answers · asked by Wulfruna 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Aaltonen is incorrect to suggest that in England and Wales 'misdemeanours' are summary offences and 'felonies' indictable. In fact, the terms misdemeanours and felonies in the criminal law of England and Wales was abolished very many years ago. Summary offences are merely ones that can be tried by magistrates, whether lay or professional whilst indictable offences are tried before a Judge and jury at Crown Court. Some offences are 'either way', that means either party may elect for trial at Crown Court, although the final decision is that of the defendant.
In the USA, as I understand it, homicide is a generic term for the wrongful killing of one person by another, but the legal offence remains one or murder (in whatever degree) or manslaughter.
2007-05-12 22:03:39 · answer #1 · answered by rdenig_male 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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2016-06-11 01:12:42 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's just the way the American legal system has built up.
Homicide is the killing of one human being by the act of another. It is a necessary ingredient of the crimes of murder and manslaughter, but there are other cases in which homicide may be committed without criminal intent and without criminal consequences, as in self-defence.
A felony is a graver or more serious crime than a misdemeanour, such as aggravated assault, arson, burglary - one that attracts a sentence of at least a year in prison.
2007-05-12 20:01:49 · answer #3 · answered by champer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Homicide is a generic term for the killing (-cide) of a human being (homi-). This covers murder, manslaughter, etc. Often it is useful to talk in generic terms only, for example when it is known that a person has been killed but it isn't yet known how this happened.
Felony is a term which describe a more 'serious' type of crime, as opposed to misdemeanor, which is a lesser crime. The categories are different in terms of how they are treated in court (eg. grand jury or not) and the type and severity of punishments. This distinction isn't unique to the US, but is common to most Common Law legal systems, although in some, eg. England, the terminology is different: felony in English law is called 'indictable offence' and misdemeanor 'summary offence'.
2007-05-12 19:50:23 · answer #4 · answered by had enough of idiots - signing off... 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Felony is used to describe the severity of a crime, to seperate Felony crimes from Misdemeanor crimes. The difference in the crimes also affects the punishment.
As for calling murder homicide, I don't have an answer for you.
2007-05-12 19:31:13 · answer #5 · answered by d h 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Homicide is a type of murder. Felonies are crimes against Federal Law. Murder is still a felony.
2007-05-12 19:29:48 · answer #6 · answered by tengu312003 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think it has anything to do with rejecting their "Englishness". Not all Americans are of European descent.
There are generally several classifications for crimes in this country. Misdemeanors, Felonies, and Capital Felonies. That's pretty much how crimes are catagorized in this country.
2007-05-12 19:30:43 · answer #7 · answered by C J 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The expansion of language to include more descriptive terms is a practice in all languages. Americans use different terms to describe similar actions, because there are different levels of the same action. Not all crimes are felonies. Some are misdemeanors.
2007-05-12 19:33:56 · answer #8 · answered by skippy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i dont think it is any form of rejection but instead accurate terminology for the sake of law..
homicide is actually a latin word, homo = human & cide=to kill.. hence murder means homicide,to kill a human
as for felony it refers to an act against the Federation of US, as does the word crime. essentially they mena the same.
2007-05-12 23:47:19 · answer #9 · answered by shaks 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not at all. Technically they are correct. One has to look at the etymology/origin of the words.
homicide etymology
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin homicdium and homicda : hom, man; see dhghem- in Indo-European roots + -cdium and -cda, -cide.]
Origins of Felony
Felony \Fel"o*ny\, n.; pl. Felonies. [OE. felonie cruelty, OF. felonie, F. f['e]lonie treachery, malice. See Felon, n.]
1. (Feudal Law) An act on the part of the vassal which cost him his fee by forfeiture. --Burrill.
2. (O.Eng.Law) An offense which occasions a total forfeiture either lands or goods, or both, at the common law, and to which capital or other punishment may be added, according to the degree of guilt.
Murder is also derived from Old English, morder, morther, which in turn has origins in Latin, mors, mortis, death, mori, moriri, to die.
Crime is derived totally from Latin, crimen, judicial decision, from the root of cernere, to decide judicially.
Perhaps we should review our wording!
2007-05-12 23:56:51 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋