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Concept
Common law offence
Summary
Common law offences are crimes under English criminal law, the related criminal law of some Commonwealth countries, and under some U.S. State laws. They are offences under the common law, developed entirely by the law courts, having no specific basis in statute.
Under the criminal law of Australia the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Commonwealth) abolished all common law offences at the federal level. The Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia have also abolished common law offences, but they still apply in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Although some common law offences still exist in New South Wales, many common law offences – for example nightwalking, riot, rout, affray, keeping of bawdy houses, champerty and maintenance, eavesdropping and being a common scold – have been abolished in that State.
In Canada the consolidation of criminal law in the Criminal Code, enacted in 1953, involved the abolition of all common law offences except contempt of court (preserved by section 9 of the Code) and contempt of Parliament (preserved by section 18 of the Constitution Act, 1867).
In England and Wales, the Law Commission's programme of codification of the criminal law included the aim of abolishing all the remaining common law offences and replacing them, where appropriate, with offences precisely defined by statute. Common law offences were seen as unacceptably vague and open to development by the courts in ways that might offend the principle of certainty. However, neither the Law Commission nor the UK Parliament have completed the necessary revisions of the law, so some common law offences still exist. In England and Wales, common law offences are punishable by unlimited fines and unlimited imprisonment.
Common law offences that have been abolished or redefined as statutory offences are listed at .
Category:Common law offences in England and Wales
This list includes offences that have been abolished or codified in one or more or all jurisdictions.
Official source
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