Explained: History Of Crimes And Misdemeanors. Also, What Is A Felony?

By Author: Nick jackson
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The phrase “crimes and misdemeanors” appears in Article II section 4 of the U.S. Constitution:

The President, Vice President, and all Civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

While he was in Congress, before becoming President through a different series of unusual Constitutional processes, Gerald Ford offered a famously cheeky explication of that sentence: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.” But most legal scholars disagree.

There are two major legal disputes over the definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The first is whether or not something in that category has to be a crime. Frank Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri School of Law and the author of High Crimes & Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump, tells TIME he believes it doesn’t. “

The defenders of the impeached officer always argue, always, that a crime is ...
... required,” he says. “And every time that misconception has to be knocked down again.”

The second legal dispute is over whether all crimes are impeachable: If a President broke the law but it didn’t relate to their office, can that person still be impeached?

This question came up prominently during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, whom a judge determined to have lied under oath.

What’s The Constitutional History Of Crimes And Misdemeanors?
The British Parliament used the concept of impeachment as early as 1376 as a legislative safeguard against overreach by the aristocracy, and the terms in question were part of the process early on.

“In England, a lot of the impeachment cases had relied on this language of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors from the 1640s onward,” Bernadette Meyler, a law professor at Stanford Law School, explains.

But the phrase didn’t have a set definition in British practice; it was used to describe whatever thing the person was being impeached for, according to Bowman.

There were several things for which people were impeached during this era: ordinary crimes, treason, corruption, abuse of power, typical incompetence, and misbehavior about foreign policy. Notably, the King could not be impeached.

When the framers of the U.S. Constitution realized they needed a way to remove executive officials who abused the nature of their positions, they decided to add a definition for an impeachable offense.

Though many suggestions were made at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, by the end of the summer, they’d winnowed it down to two examples: treason and bribery.
How Has ‘Crimes And Misdemeanors’ Been Used Throughout American History?
The very first federal official to face impeachment was a Senator from Tennessee named William Blount.

Blount had conspired to help the British conquer the Spanish-controlled territory of West Florida; the House of Representatives impeached him once he was discovered, but the Senate expelled him instead of voting on him to convict him.

This move by the Senate set a precedent that members of Congress aren’t impeachable under the Constitution — only federal judges and executive branch officials.

The first person who was successfully impeached and removed was a federal judge named John Pickering in 1803.

As the University of Missouri’s Bowman says, “He was both an alcoholic and probably insane.” Bowman points out that neither was a crime but led him to abuse his office.

Only 19 people were impeached in the U.S. from 1788 until Trump: Two Presidents, one Senator, one Secretary of War, and 15 federal judges.

To know about the history of crimes and misdemeanors, click here.
What Is A Felony?

Felony law refers to the prosecution and defense of crimes punishable by at least one year in prison. These crimes exist in state and federal courts. Municipal court systems typically do not handle felony cases, so if the patient will be transferred to county court city police officer makes a felony arrest.

Felonies are distinguished from misdemeanors, the latter being punishable by less than one year in jail.
Types of Felony Charges
To refer to a crime as a felony is to label it broadly. Felonies can be further characterized in terms of the nature of the offense. For example, many serious crimes can be described as violent felonies because they are carried out using force or the threat of force.

Drug crimes are another common type of felony charge. These can include charges of possession, use, distribution, trafficking, manufacturing, or cultivation.

Click on this website to learn about felony convictions and more through graphics and videos.
Conclusion
The impeachment process that we see in the United States today is, in some ways, then, the result of the strange influence of a particular incident in the political history of the United Kingdom.

It is notable that the impeachment procedure was soon replaced by other developments in the United Kingdom and did not influence the development of the constitutions of the British Commonwealth.

To consider reading more about the legality of crimes and misdemeanors, click here.
https://www.getlegal.com/legal-info-center/criminal-law/misdemeanor-crimes/
https://www.getlegal.com/legal-info-center/criminal-law/felonies/