Definition
A misdemeanor is a criminal offense below the grade of felony — serious enough to constitute a crime and subject the offender to punishment, but not carrying the most severe consequences that attach to felonies. In modern American law, misdemeanors are typically punishable by fines, probation, or incarceration in a local or county jail for a period generally not exceeding one year. They are distinguished from felonies primarily by the severity of punishment and, in many jurisdictions, by the place of confinement (jail versus state prison).
The category is defined largely by exclusion: a misdemeanor is what a crime is when it is not a felony. This negative definition has characterized the term since its common law origins and persists in modern statutory frameworks.
In some older and administrative usages, "misdemeanor" also referred to misconduct or misbehavior in office — an officer's failure of duty — without necessarily describing a criminal act in the technical sense. This usage appears in statutes governing public officers and should be distinguished from the criminal law definition.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "A lesser criminal act in most common law legal systems, generally punished less severely than a felony. Any act of misbehavior."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Ill behavior; evil conduct; fault. A crime less than a felony."
The common and legal meanings are closely aligned in one respect — both treat misdemeanor as lesser in grade than a felony — but the common usage preserves an older, broader sense of general misbehavior that the law has largely discarded. A researcher encountering "misdemeanor" in historical statutes, legislative records, or administrative contexts should not assume a criminal charge is involved; the word may denote official misconduct or breach of duty with no penal consequence attached.
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Common Confusion
MISDEMEANOR vs. INFRACTION: Modern jurisdictions have introduced a third tier — the infraction or violation — below the misdemeanor. Infractions are typically non-jailable offenses handled through fines alone (traffic citations being the most common example). Historical sources predate this tripartite structure and use "misdemeanor" to cover what today might be classified as either a misdemeanor or an infraction. Researchers reading nineteenth-century materials should not assume the modern three-tier hierarchy.
MISDEMEANOR vs. CRIME: Historically, "misdemeanor" and "crime" were sometimes used interchangeably in general definitions, as Black's acknowledges when it notes that the broad definition "comprehends both 'crimes' and 'misdemeanors,' which, properly speaking, are mere synonyms." In technical usage, however, "crime" can be a genus term encompassing all criminal offenses (including felonies), while "misdemeanor" is a species. Bouvier draws out this layering explicitly. Context determines which sense is operative.
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Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Modern American jurisdictions frequently subdivide misdemeanors by severity, commonly designated as:
Class A Misdemeanor (or First Degree): The most serious tier, often carrying up to one year in jail. In some federal and state contexts, offenses at this level approach felony territory in practical consequence.
Class B Misdemeanor (or Second Degree): Mid-range offenses with reduced maximum penalties.
Class C Misdemeanor (or Third Degree): The least serious tier, sometimes punishable by fine only or very short incarceration.
Exact class designations and penalty ranges vary by jurisdiction. Not all states use a lettered classification system; some use numerical grades or unclassified misdemeanors defined entirely by individual statutes.
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Why It Matters in Research
The felony/misdemeanor line is not static. The threshold separating the two categories has shifted across time and jurisdiction, often tied to dollar amounts in theft offenses, the type of weapon involved, or the specific harm caused. A researcher working on theft law, for example, must track the monetary threshold in force at the time of the offense — what was a felony in 1950 may have been reclassified, and what was a misdemeanor in one state may be a felony in another. The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia entry on grand theft versus petit theft thresholds is essential reading for this.
Collateral consequences matter and have grown substantially. In historical sources, the felony/misdemeanor distinction primarily tracked punishment severity. In modern law, the distinction triggers or withholds a wide range of collateral consequences — immigration consequences, firearm disabilities, professional licensing bars, sex offender registration in some states, and loss of civil rights. Research that treats misdemeanor convictions as categorically minor may miss significant downstream effects that are increasingly the focus of criminal justice scholarship and litigation.
The administrative/official misconduct usage is a research trap. Anderson's definition leads with misconduct in office, not criminal conduct. In nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century statutes governing sheriffs, judges, and other public officers, "misdemeanor in office" is a term of art describing a dereliction of duty enforceable through civil or disciplinary proceedings. Conflating this with the criminal law meaning produces errors in historical legal analysis.
Parliamentary and constitutional dimensions. Bouvier flags a "parliamentary sense" of misdemeanor tied to the conduct of officers. This maps onto the constitutional impeachment standard — "high crimes and misdemeanors" — where "misdemeanor" does not mean a criminal offense below a felony but rather serious official misconduct. Researchers working on impeachment history or constitutional law should treat that phrase as a standalone term of art requiring separate analysis.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries converge on the core definition: a misdemeanor is a criminal offense not amounting to felony, punishable by indictment or prescribed proceedings. Black's (both editions) and Bouvier agree precisely on this framing. Rapalje & Lawrence provides the most useful illustrative list — perjury, battery, libel, conspiracy, public nuisances — which helps researchers calibrate the range of conduct the category historically covered.
Where the sources diverge is in how they handle the term's breadth. Bouvier is the most analytically careful, distinguishing common-law, parliamentary, and popular senses. This tripartite breakdown is genuinely useful and largely absent from Black's. Anderson's diverges most sharply, leading with the administrative-misconduct sense rather than the criminal law sense — a reflection of the term's real multiplicity that Black's passes over.
None of the historical dictionaries adequately address the modern three-tier structure (felony / misdemeanor / infraction), nor the explosion of collateral consequences that now attach to misdemeanor convictions. They also predate the extensive statutory classification systems (Class A, B, C) now in widespread use. On these points, historical dictionary entries should be supplemented with modern statutory sources and secondary literature.
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Jurisdictional Note
The felony/misdemeanor threshold, classification schemes, and maximum penalties vary substantially across state and federal systems. Federal law uses a distinct structure under 18 U.S.C. § 3559, classifying misdemeanors by maximum term of imprisonment. States may follow the Model Penal Code's framework, adopt their own class designations, or leave individual offenses unclassified. Researchers should verify the specific jurisdiction's structure rather than relying on any general definition.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Criminal Law -- Classification of Crimes (Felony, Misdemeanor, Infraction) (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia)
Grand Theft vs. Petit Theft (Felony vs. Misdemeanor Thresholds) (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia)
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