Word Finder - misdemeanours

definition

A crime usually punishable upon conviction by a small fine or by a short term of imprisonment. In the USA, misdemeanants usually are incarcerated in county jail for less than one year, but felons usually are incarcerated in state or federal prison for more than one year. Crimes which are punishable by large fines or by longer imprisonment are sometimes called felonies.

They may also try misdemeanours in counties without other criminal jurisdiction.

For seven long years Hastings was upon his defence on the charge of "high crimes and misdemeanours."

The judicial system, revised by a constitutional amendment of 1891, consists of a supreme court of three members, elected for a term of six years, with civil jurisdiction only, largely appellate; a court of criminal appeals, of three members, elected for six years, with appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases; courts of civil appeals (number determined by the legislature) of three members each, elected for six years; district courts, each with one judge, elected for four years, with original jurisdiction in the more important civil and criminal (felony) cases and a limited appellate jurisdiction; county and justice of the peace courts with original jurisdiction in misdemeanours and petty civil cases.

The six years that followed the great rout of the orthodox Whigs were years of repose for the country, but it was now that Burke engaged in the most laborious and formidable enterprise of his life, the impeachment of Warren Hastings for high crimes and misdemeanours in his government of India.

Nineteen judges elected for terms of eight years in eighteen circuits compose the circuit court, the judges of which have original jurisdiction of matters involving more than $50; of all cases of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto and prohibition; of all cases in equity; and of all crimes and misdemeanours.

Making a false affidavit as to age or as to other facts required by the act, and the violation of the act by any agent or representative of a factory or by any parent or guardian of a child are misdemeanours.

He had aristocratic privileges and responsibilities, the right to exact retaliation for corporal injuries, and liability to heavier punishment for crimes and misdemeanours, higher fees and fines to pay.

In addition to their functions as guardians of the poor, the parish members have to investigate crimes and punish misdemeanours, settle litigations and divide inheritances.

They have jurisdiction of various civil actions in which the amount in controversy is less than $100, and concurrent jurisdiction with the superior courts in all cases of misdemeanours, but punishment by a justice of the peace is limited in cities of the first class to a fine of $500, or imprisonment for six months, and elsewhere to a fine of $100 or imprisonment for thirty days.

The Directions to Servants (first published in 1745) in like manner derive their overpowering comic force from the imperturbable solemnity with which all the misdemeanours that domestics can commit are enjoined upon them as duties.

While poor, morbid Edgar Allan Poe was writing violent and scurrilous articles upon him, accusing him of plagiarism and other literary misdemeanours, he was delivering enthusiastic lectures to his classes on Poe's poetry.