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ACCESSORY
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ACCESSORY.) Under French law and systems based thereon or having a common origin a distinction is drawn between crime (verbrechen), delft (vergehen) and contravention. The English term misdemeanour roughly corresponds to the two classes of delft and contravention but includes some offences which would be qualified as " crime." In the criminal code of Queensland the term " misdemeanour " is retained, while _that of " felony " is abolished; and offences are classified as crimes, misdemeanours and simple offences, the two former punishable on indictment, the latter on summary conviction only; the more serious offences described in English law as misdemeanours are in that code described as crimes (e.g. perjury). In the United States the English common law as to misdemeanour is generally followed,but in New York and other states a statutory distinction has been made between misdemeanour and felony by defining the latter as a crime punishable by death or by imprisonment in a state prison. (W. F. C.)