What is "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.

3. A heinous crime; especially, a crime punishable by death or imprisonment.

   Note: Forfeiture for crime having been generally abolished in the United States, the term felony, in American law, has lost this point of distinction; and its meaning, where not fixed by statute, is somewhat vague and undefined; generally, however, it is used to denote an offense of a high grade, punishable either capitally or by a term of imprisonment. In Massachusetts, by statute, any crime punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison, and no other, is a felony; so in New York. the tendency now is to obliterate the distinction between felonies and misdemeanors; and this has been done partially in England, and completely in some of the States of the Union. The distinction is purely arbitrary, and its entire abolition is only a question of time.

   Note: There is no lawyer who would undertake to tell what a felony is, otherwise than by enumerating the various kinds of offenses which are so called. originally, the word felony had a meaning: it denoted all offenses the penalty of which included forfeiture of goods; but subsequent acts of Parliament have declared various offenses to be felonies, without enjoining that penalty, and have taken away the penalty from others, which continue, nevertheless, to be called felonies, insomuch that the acts so called have now no property whatever in common, save that of being unlawful and purnishable.
   --J. S. Mill.

   To compound a felony. See under Compound, v. t.

c.1300, "treachery, betrayal; deceit; villainy, wickedness, sin, crime; violent temper, wrath; ruthlessness; evil intention," from Old French felonie (12c.) "wickedness, evil, treachery, perfidy, crime, cruelty, sin," from Gallo-Roman *fellonia, from fellonem "evil-doer" (see felon).\n

\nAs a class of crime in common law, also from c.1300, from Anglo-French. The exact definition changed over time and place, and even the distinction from misdemeanor or trespass is not always observed. In old use often a crime involving forfeiture of lands, goods, or a fee or a crime punishable by death. Variously used in the U.S.; often the sense is "crime punishable by death or imprisonment in a state penitentiary."

n. (context US legal English) A serious criminal offense, which, under federal law, is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

n. a serious crime (such as murder or arson)

The term felony, in some common law countries, means a serious crime. The word originates from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie"), where felonies were originally crimes that involved confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods. Other crimes were called misdemeanors. Many common law countries have now abolished the felony/misdemeanor distinction and replaced it with other distinctions, such as between indictable offences and summary offences. A felony is generally considered a crime of high seriousness, while a misdemeanor is not.

A person who has committed a felony is a felon, and upon conviction of a felony in a court of law is known as a convicted felon or a convict. In the United States, where the felony/misdemeanor distinction is still widely applied, the federal government defines a felony as a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year. If punishable by exactly one year or less, it is classified as a misdemeanor. Note that the actual prison sentence handed out has no effect on this; the decision is based on the maximum sentence possible under law. For example, if a person is sentenced to six months, but the charge can be "up to two years", it counts as a felony, in spite of the actual time served being well under a year. Individual states may differ in this definition, using other categories as seriousness or context.

Similar to felonies in some civil law countries ( Italy, Spain) are delicts, whereas in others ( France, Belgium, Switzerland) crimes (more serious) and delicts (délits, less serious); and still in others ( Brazil, Portugal), crimes and delicts are synonymous (more serious), as opposed to contraventions (less serious).

Felony is an American new wave and rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in the early 1980s by brothers Jeffrey Spirili and Joe Spirili. The brothers were also known as Jeff Spry and Joe Spry.

A felony is a type of crime.

Felony may also refer to:

• Felony (album), an album by Emmure
• Felony (band), an American band popular in the 1980s
• Felony (film), a 2013 Australian film
• Jayo Felony (born 1969), American rapper

Felony is the third full-length album by American deathcore band Emmure under the Victory Records label. It was released on August 18, 2009. The album debuted at #60 on the Billboard Top 200 selling roughly 8,000 copies in its first week. Felony is also the first album to feature new members Mike Mulholland on guitar and Mike Kaabe on drums, replacing founding members Ben and Joe Lionetti, respectively.

Felony is a 2013 Australian crime thriller film directed by Matthew Saville. Joel Edgerton wrote, produced and co-starred in the film. Tom Wilkinson, Jai Courtney, and Melissa George also appeared in the film. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.