# Suicide: English misdemeanour / felony distinction

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-english-misdemeanour-felony-distinction/236950>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [March 28, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-english-misdemeanour-felony-distinction/236950 "2004-03-28T18:36:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![marnanel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@marnanel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marnanel)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-english-misdemeanour-felony-distinction/236950/1 "2004-03-28T18:36:43Z")

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In today’s SD about the legality of suicide:

> [@](#):
>
> …by the tenth century suicide in England was considered not just a crime but a felony… the deed itself remained a crime (albeit only a misdemeanor, and a rarely prosecuted one at that) until 1961.

I’m curious now. Having lived in both England and the US, I’d only seen the misdemeanour/felony distinction talked about in the US, so I’d assumed it wasn’t a distinction that was made in English law. Was I mistaken?

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-english-misdemeanour-felony-distinction/236950/2 "2004-03-28T19:00:17Z")

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The categories of misdemeanour and felony are based on the English common law. The U.S. inherited them, along with the rest of the common law, as did other English colonies. Under the English common law, a felony was an offence that was punishable by death; misdemeanours had lesser penalties.

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-english-misdemeanour-felony-distinction/236950/3 "2004-03-28T19:07:29Z")

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Oops - hit “reply” instead of “preview”.

Meant to add that many common law jurisdictiions have moved away from the felony/misdemeanour distinction. Canada, for example, now has the categories of indictable and summary conviction offences. Abolishing the old categories of felony and misdemeanour was considered necessary to reform the law in this area, to ensure that none of the old common law quirks about felonies and misdemeanours survived and that criminal procedure was entirely statutory. I’m not familiar with the English criminal procedure, but it may be that England has similarly moved away from the old felony/misdemeanour distinctions. If so, that may be why you didn’t see references to it in the U.K.

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**Author:** ![eric\_bloodaxe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@eric\_bloodaxe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eric_bloodaxe)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-english-misdemeanour-felony-distinction/236950/4 "2004-03-28T20:56:06Z")

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In Sam Pepys time the property of a suicide passed to the crown. The husband of Pepys cousin drowned himself, and Pepys went and appealed so that she could keep the Tavern.