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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ARN-AUD |
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ARSON (from Lat. ardere, to burn) , a crime which has been described as the malicious and voluntary burning of the house
the Gothic institutions. Death continued to be the penalty at least down to the reign of King John, according to a reported case (Gloucester Pleas, pl. 216), but in course of time the penalty became that of other common-law felonies, death by the gallows. It is one of the earliest crimes in which the mens rea, or criminal intent , was taken special notice of. Bracton deals at length with the mala conscientia, which he says is necessary for this crime, and contrasts it with negligentia (f. 146 b), while in many early indictments malice aforethought (malitia praecogitata) appears. Arson was deprived of " benefit of clergy " under the Tudors, while an act of 8 Henry VI. c. 6 (1429) made the wilful burning of houses, under particular circumstances, high treason, but acts of 1 Ed. VI. c. 12 (1547) and 1 Mary (1553) reduced it to an ordinary felony. The English law concerning arson was consolidated by 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 30, which was repealed and re-enacted by the Malicious Damage Act 1861.The common-law offence of arson (which has been greatly enlarged by the act of 1861) required some part of the house
The different varieties of the offence are specified in the Malicious Damage Act 1861. The following crimes are thereby made felonies: (1) setting fire to any church, chapel, meeting-house or other place of divine worship ; (2) setting fire to a dwelling-house, any person being therein; (3) setting fire to a house, out-house, manufactory, farm-building, &c., with intent to impose and defraud any person; (4) setting fire to buildings appertaining to any railway, port, dock or harbour; or (5) setting fire to any public building. In these cases the act provides that the person convicted shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than three years (altered to five years by the Penal Servitude Acts Amendment Act 1864), or to be imprisoned for any time not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and, if a male under sixteen years of age, with or without whip-ping. Setting fire to other buildings, and setting fire to goods in buildings under such circumstances that, if the building were thereby set fire to, the offence would amount to felony, are subject to the punishments last enumerated, with this exception that the period of penal servitude is limited to fourteen years. The attempt to set fire to any building, or any matter or thing not enumerated above, is punishable as a felony. Russell says (Crimes, p. 1781) that the term building is no doubt very in-definite, but it was used in 9 & ,o Vict. c. 25, s. 2; and it was thought much better to adopt this term and leave it to be'interpreted as each case might arise, than to attempt to define; as any such attempt would probably have failed in producing any expression more certain than the term " building " itself. In R. v. Manning
mineral
capital punishment may be passed. The Malicious Damage Act 1861, s. 43, also includes as a felony the setting fire to any ship or vessel, with intent to prejudice any owner or part owner of the vessel, or of any goods on the same, or any person who has underwritten any policy of insurance on the vessel, or upon any goods on board the same.In Scotland the offence equivalent to arson in England is known by the more expressive name of fire-raising. The crime was punishable capitally by old consuetudinary law, but it is now no longer capital , and may be tried in the sheriff court (50 & 51 Vict. C. 35, S. 56). Formerly the public prosecutor had the privilege of declining to demand capital punishment, and he invariably did so. Wilful fire-raising, which is the most heinous form of the crime, requires the raising of fire, without any lawful object, but with the deliberate intention of destroying certain premises or things, whether directly by the application of fire thereto, or indirectly by its application to something contained in or forming part of or communicating with them; also the intention to destroy premises or things of a certain description (much as mentioned above); and such premises or things must be the property of another than the accused. Wicked, culpable and reckless fire-raising differs from wilful fire-raising in that the fire is raised without the deliberate intention of destroying premises or things, but while the accused was engaged in some unlawful act, or while he was in such a state of passion, excitement or recklessness as not to care what results might follow from his acts.United States.The same general principles apply to this crime in American law. In some states by statute the intent to injure or defraud must be shown, e.g. when the property is insured. In New York
Texas
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