Definition
"First degree" is a grading classification used in criminal law to designate the most serious tier of a tiered offense. It does not define an independent crime but describes the aggravated form of an underlying offense — murder, assault, battery, robbery, burglary, and others — that carries the most severe penalties available for that category.
When applied to a specific offense, first degree typically signals the presence of one or more aggravating factors that elevate the conduct above lesser grades:
1. First-degree murder: Killing that is willful, deliberate, and premeditated, or that occurs under statutorily specified circumstances (such as during the commission of certain felonies). This is the paradigm use of the classification and the context in which it most often appears in historical and modern sources alike.
2. First-degree assault or battery: Physical harm inflicted with a deadly weapon, with intent to cause serious bodily injury, or resulting in grievous injury — depending on the jurisdiction's definition.
3. First-degree robbery: Robbery accomplished with a weapon, with accomplices, or causing serious bodily harm to the victim.
4. First-degree burglary: Entry into a dwelling (as opposed to other structures) or entry while armed or with persons present.
The specific elements that constitute "first degree" vary by offense and by jurisdiction. No universal definition applies across all crimes or all states.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "First degree" in ordinary English can mean the highest rank or level of something, or — in the context of burns or injuries — the least severe category (a first-degree burn being the mildest).
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's does not list "first degree" as a standalone entry, but "degree" is defined as a step or stage in a series, with higher numbers implying greater distance from a starting point.
The common-language gap here runs in two directions. In everyday speech, "first" often simply means earliest or primary, without any necessary connection to severity. More importantly, in the context of burns and some medical classifications, "first degree" means the mildest form — the exact opposite of its criminal law meaning. A researcher encountering "first degree" in a non-legal document should not assume the criminal law meaning applies. Conversely, readers unfamiliar with criminal grading systems sometimes expect "first degree" to denote the least serious offense, when in criminal law it invariably denotes the most serious.
Common Confusion
Two confusion points recur in research and interpretation:
First, the burn/injury inversion: Outside criminal law, first-degree classifications (burns, frostbite) indicate the mildest injury. Inside criminal law, first degree indicates the most serious offense. These usages co-exist in legal records — coroner's reports, medical testimony, and criminal indictments may appear in the same case file with opposite conventions for the phrase.
Second, jurisdictional inconsistency in what triggers first-degree status: What constitutes first-degree murder in one state may be second-degree murder in another. Premeditation is universally associated with first-degree murder, but the felony murder rule's relationship to first-degree classification varies widely. Researchers assuming uniform content across state statutes will draw incorrect conclusions.
Why It Matters in Research
The grading label "first degree" is purely statutory and has no fixed common-law anchor. Before degrees of murder were codified — beginning with Pennsylvania's 1794 statute, widely regarded as the first — there was no formal first/second degree distinction in American law. Pre-1794 sources will not use this terminology in the same way, and English common law sources will not use it at all. When working with nineteenth-century materials, researchers must identify which state's statute was in force and what that statute specified as the elements of each degree.
The Bouvier entry flags a critical research trap: courts have explicitly held that the phrase "in the first degree" should be read in its ordinary sense — meaning the highest grade of the offense — rather than by reference to how another jurisdiction's statute defines the term. This matters when tracing cases across state lines or when reading federal court decisions that apply state law. A case decided under Missouri's definition of first-degree murder tells you nothing reliable about what California's statute required at the same period.
Within the Law Mind corpus, "first degree" connects the homicide materials (criminal_25) directly to the grading structures for violent offenses generally (criminal_38, criminal_40). Researchers examining sentencing history, capital punishment eligibility, or the evolution of criminal intent doctrine will find the grading framework central to all three encyclopedia entries.
Historical statutes defining degrees of offenses often appear under the substantive crime (murder, robbery) rather than under a general "degrees" heading. Digest and index searches limited to the phrase "first degree" alone will miss significant material.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's entry is brief and pointed: the phrase should be taken in its ordinary acceptation — the first or highest degree of the offense — rather than by reference to the specialized meaning it may carry under another state's statute. The citation Bouvier supplies (70 S.W. 292) reflects an early twentieth-century judicial statement of this interpretive principle.
Bouvier does not synthesize the legislative history of degree-grading statutes or address the significant variation in how states defined the content of each degree. This is characteristic of the dictionary's approach to grading terms: it resolves an interpretive dispute but does not map the substantive law. Researchers should not rely on Bouvier alone to determine what elements a historical "first degree" charge actually required — that analysis requires the applicable statute.
Jurisdictional Note
Every American jurisdiction grades at least murder into degrees, but the elements and nomenclature differ. Some states use classes (Class A felony) rather than degrees; others reserve first-degree status exclusively for capital-eligible murder while grouping other premeditated killings into second degree. Researchers working across multiple jurisdictions should treat "first degree" as a label requiring statutory confirmation, not a self-defining legal standard.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
criminal_25: Homicide — First-Degree Murder (Premeditation and Deliberation), The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia.
criminal_38: Battery — Elements and Degrees, The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia.
criminal_40: Robbery — Elements and Degrees, The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia.