In early English law a felony was a heinous act that canceled the perpetrator's feudal rights and forfeited his lands and goods to the king, thus depriving his prospective heirs of their inheritance. The appeal of felony was gradually replaced by rational modes of trial and was altogether abolished in England in 1819. In addition to the forfeiture of his property, the convicted felon usually suffered death, long imprisonment, or banishment. Death was an especially common English penalty in the 18th and the early 19th cent. With the abolition of forfeitures in England in 1870 the felony acquired essentially its modern character.
Felony is used in various senses in the United States.
In federal law, any crime punishable by death or more than one year's imprisonment is a felony. Other possible consequences of committing a felony are loss of the rights of citizenship, deportation if the felon is an alien, and liability to a more severe sentence for successive offenses. Felonies are usually tried by jury, and in some states the accused must first have been indicted by a grand jury . The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore .