Donald Trump and Hunter Biden Are Both Felons. But What Does Felon Really Mean?
“Guilty,” pronounced the May 31, 2024, Associated Press headline: “Trump Becomes First Former US President Convicted of Felony Crimes.” Just 11 days later, The New York Times blazoned, “Jury Finds Hunter Biden Guilty of 3 Felonies.” Regardless of what politicians and pundits performatively proclaim, Republicans and Democrats share some common ground.
The term felony derives from the Old French felonie, which meant wickedness or treachery. That in turn came from the Medieval Latin term felonia, with similar connotations, though with a melodious flow that could have placed it on the top baby names of 2023 beside Olivia, Amelia, Sophia, and Aria. The word’s roots go further back to the Proto-Germanic word fel, which meant “to deceive” or “to betray.” From its inception, the word has been associated with severe moral and ethical breaches.
The term began to take on its legal significance in medieval England. The first recorded legal use of felony appears in the Statute of Westminster (1275), enacted during the reign of King Edward I. The statute categorized felonies as crimes punishable by death or severe penalties, reflecting the feudal justice system where such trespasses were seen as grave offenses against the king’s peace.
Use of the term hasn’t changed much since the 13th century. Felonies are still defined not by the action itself but by how we punish it. In the United States, any offense punishable by death or more than one year’s imprisonment is called a felony.
Before acquiring legal connotations, felon was a literary te
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