A Treatise on Crimes and Misdemeanours or Russell on Crime is a book originally written by William Oldnall Russell. [1] For the purpose of citation, its name may be abbreviated to Russ Cr. [2]
Russell's Treatise on Crimes and Misdemeanours, which appeared in 1819 in two volumes in octavo, was pronounced by Warren (Law Student, 2nd edit. p. 620) "the best general treatise in criminal law". A second edition appeared in 1827; a third, edited by C. S. Greaves, in 1843, with a supplement in 1851; a fourth, in 3 volumes, in 1865; and a fifth, edited by S. Prentice, Q.C., in 1877. The American editions, of which seven were issued between 1824 and 1853, do not reproduce the whole work. [3]
In 1847, J G Marvin said of the third London and fifth American editions: [4]
The American editions, excepting the last, do not contain the whole of Russell on Crimes, from the supposed inapplicability, on the part of the editors, of certain parts of the work to this country. Its appreciation among us is best shown by the number of American editions. The notes of American Cases are numerous and able, and no English law book has received more careful and excellent editorial care than Russell on Crimes. Professor Whiteside remarks, that the second volume contains the best summary of the leading principles of the Law of Evidence, especially relating to Criminal Jurisprudence, he has ever met with. It is said to have been drawn up by Mr. Williams, the learned author of the work on Executors. Mr. Warren says, it is the best general Treatise on Criminal Law. 1 Leg. Reporter, 298; Hoff. Leg. Stu. 438; [5] Warren's L. S. 620. [6]
The most recent edition of Russell on Crime was the twelfth edition, which was published in 1964. [7]
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term crime does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition, though statutory definitions have been provided for certain purposes. The most popular view is that crime is a category created by law; in other words, something is a crime if declared as such by the relevant and applicable law. One proposed definition is that a crime or offence is an act harmful not only to some individual but also to a community, society, or the state. Such acts are forbidden and punishable by law.
A misdemeanor is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences. Typically misdemeanors are punished with monetary fines or community service.
Ranulf de Glanvill was Chief Justiciar of England during the reign of King Henry II (1154–89) and was the probable author of Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie, the earliest treatise on the laws of England.
The Commentaries on the Laws of England are an influential 18th-century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765–1770. The work is divided into four volumes, on the rights of persons, the rights of things, of private wrongs and of public wrongs.
Misprision of felony is a form of misprision, and an offence under the common law of England that is no longer active in many common law countries. Where it was or is active, it is classified as a misdemeanor. It consists of failing to report knowledge of a felony to the appropriate authorities. Exceptions were made for close family members of the felon and where the disclosure would tend to incriminate him of that offence or another.
Lassa Francis Lawrence Oppenheim was a renowned German jurist. He is regarded by many as the father of the modern discipline of international law, especially the hard legal positivist school of thought. He inspired Joseph Raz and Prosper Weil.
Glanville Llewelyn Williams was a Welsh legal scholar who was the Rouse Ball Professor of English Law at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1978 and the Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University College, London, from 1945 to 1955. He has been described as Britain's foremost scholar of criminal law.
The Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861 were Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. They consolidated provisions from a large number of earlier statutes which were then repealed. Their purpose was to simplify the criminal law. There were six consolidation Acts and a further Act which effected consequential repeals.
Peel's Acts were Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. They consolidated provisions from a large number of earlier statutes which were then repealed. Their purpose was to simplify the criminal law. The term refers to the Home Secretary who sponsored them, Sir Robert Peel.
The publication of an obscene libel was an offence under the common law of England. Prior to the abolition by section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 of the distinction between felony and misdemeanour, it was regarded as a misdemeanour. It has been abolished in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.
A New Abridgment of the Law is a legal book compiled by Mathew Bacon. The first edition dates from 1736, and the most recent English edition in 1832.
This list is a legal bibliography.
A Digest of the Laws of England, also known as Comyns' Digest, is a book by Sir John Comyns. The latest English edition was published in 1822. A 120-page, handwritten tabulation by John Neal in 1826 of all cases in the digest is included with the Jeremy Bentham papers at the University College London.
Reports in Common Pleas and Exchequer, from E.T. 28 G. III., 1788, to H.T. 36 G. III., 1796 is the title of a collection of nominate reports, by Henry Blackstone, the nephew of Sir William Blackstone, of cases decided between approximately 1788 and 1796. For the purpose of citation their name may be abbreviated to "Bl H". They are in two volumes. They are reprinted in volume 126 of the English Reports.
Reports in K.B. and C.P., from 1746 to 1779 is the title of a collection of nominate reports, by Sir William Blackstone, of cases decided between approximately 1746 and 1780. For the purpose of citation their name may be abbreviated to "Black W" or "Bl W". They are in two volumes. They are reprinted in volume 96 of the English Reports.
William Newland Welsby was a legal writer who was born in Acton, Cheshire about 1802, was the only son of William Welsby of the Middle Temple, gentleman.
John Frederick Archbold (1785–1870) was a barrister and legal writer. He was the first editor of the English criminal law textbook Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice, which is still routinely used in court today.
Cox's Criminal Cases are a series of law reports of cases decided from 1843 to 26 June 1941.
Sir William Oldnall Russell (1785–1833) was chief justice of Bengal.
Charles Sprengel Greaves MA QC (1802–1881), eldest son of William Greaves MD (1771–1848) of Mayfield, Staffordshire, by his first wife, Anne-Lydia, was born at Burton on 18 July 1802. He entered Rugby School on 18 July 1816 and matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford on 27 February 1819, graduating BA on 25 November 1823 and MA on 13 April 1825. Greaves was called to the bar by the Society of Lincoln's Inn on 22 November 1827, entered the Inner Temple ad eundem in 1828, and attended the Oxford Circuit and Gloucester Sessions. He became Queen's counsel on 28 February 1850, but by then he had for many years ceased to practise. He became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn on 15 April 1850. He was a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for Staffordshire, and also a magistrate for the county of Derby. He was the draftsman of the Criminal Procedure Act 1851 and the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861. He became a Secretary to the Criminal Law Commission in 1878. He died at 11 Blandford Square, London, on 3 June 1881.