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misdemeanor

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.07 sec.
misdemeanor, in law, a minor crime, in contrast to a felony felony (fĕl`ənē), any grave crime, in contrast to a misdemeanor , that is so declared in statute or was so considered in common
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. At common law common law, system of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the common custom of the realm, as opposed to the custom of local
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 a misdemeanor was a crime other than treason or a felony. Although it might be a grave offense, it did not affect the feudal bond or take away the offender's property. By the 19th cent. serious crimes were labeled felonies, and minor crimes misdemeanors. In the United States a misdemeanor usually is an offense that may be punished summarily by fine and by imprisonment for less than a year. Commission of a misdemeanor does not cancel citizenship or subject an alien alien, in law, any person residing in one political community while owing allegiance to another. A procedure known as naturalization permits aliens to become citizens .
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 to deportation. In some states of the United States certain minor law violations are not even classified as misdemeanors, e.g., traffic offenses and breach of municipal regulations.
misdemeanour (US), misdemeanor
Criminal law (formerly) an offence generally less heinous than a felony and which until 1967 involved a different form of trial


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If a slave was convicted of any high misdemeanor, became unmanageable, or evinced a determination to run away, he was brought immedi- ately here, severely whipped, put on board the sloop, carried to Baltimore, and sold to Austin Woolfolk, or some other slave-trader, as a warning to the slaves remaining.
Violation of this law was made a high misdemeanor and punished accordingly.
Leaving the name standing, and the date and length of the captivity, they had erased the description of the misdemeanor, and written in its place, in staring capitals, "FOR THEFT
 
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