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Encyclopedia Britannica



MISPRISION (from O. Fr. mesprendre, mod. meprendre, to misunderstand)

This article appears in Volume V18, Page 580 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MIC-MOL
MISPRISION (from O. Fr. mesprendre, mod. meprendre, to misunderstand) , a
term
  in English law, almost obsolete, used to describe certain kinds of offence. Writers on criminal law usually divide
misprision
  into two kinds (a) negative, (b) positive.
(a) Negative
misprision
  is the concealment of treason or
felony
 . By the common law of England it was the duty of every liege subject to inform the king's justices and other officers of the law of all treasons and felonies of which the informant had knowledge, and to bring the offender to justice by arrest (see Sheriffs Act 1887, s. 8). The duty fell and still falls primarily on the grand jurors of each county borough or franchise, and is performed by indictment or presentment, but it also falls in theory on all other inhabitants (see Pollock and Maitland, Hist. Eng. Law, ii. 5o5). Failure by the latter to discharge this public duty constitutes what is known as misprision of treason or
felony
  (see 3 Co. Inst., 139).
Misprision of Treason, in the words of Blackstone, consists in the bare knowledge and concealment of treason, without any degree of assent thereto, for any assent makes the party a
principal
  traitor." According to Bracton, de Corona, seq. 118, failure to reveal the treason of another was in itself high treason, but statutes of 15511552 and 15541555 made concealment of treason misprision only. Most of the statutes regulating
procedure
  on trials for treason also apply to misprision of treason. The
punishment
  is loss of the profit of the lands of the offender during life, forfeiture of all his goods and imprisonment for life. These punishments are not affected by the Forfeiture Act 187o.
Misprision of Felony is the concealment of a felony committed by another person, but without such previous concert with, or subsequent assistance of the offender, as would make the concealer an accessory before or after the fact. The offence is a misdemeanour punishable on indictment by fine and imprisonment.
(b) Positive misprision is the doing of something which ought not to be done; or the commission of a serious offence falling short of treason or felony, in other words of a misdemeanour of a public character (e.g. maladministration of high officials, con-tempt of the sovereign or magistrates, &c.). To endeavour to dissuade a
witness
  from giving evidence, to disclose an examination before the privy council, or to advise a prisoner to stand mute, used to be described as misprisions (Hawk. P. C. bk. I. c. 20).
The old writers say that a misprision is contained in every felony and that the Crown may elect to prosecute for the misprision instead of the felony. This proposition merely affirms the right of the Crown to choose a more merciful remedy in certain cases, and has no present value in the law. Positive misprisions are now only of antiquarian
interest
 , being treated as misdemeanours.
In the United States, misprision of treason is defined to be the crime committed by.a person owing allegiance to the United States, and having knowledge of the commission of any crime against them, who conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the president or to some judge of the United States, or to the
governor
 , or to some judge or justice of a particular state. The
punishment
  is imprisonment for not more than seven years and a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.


End of Article: MISPRISION (from O. Fr. mesprendre, mod. meprendre, to misunderstand)


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