Felony
A felony is a serious crime in common law countries, and the United States retains this designation. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes that involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors. Many common law countries have now abolished the felony/misdemeanor distinction and replaced it with other distinctions such as between indictable offenses and summary offenses.
A person convicted in a court of law of a felony crime is known as a felon. In the United States, where the felony/misdemeanor distinction is still widely applied, the Federal government defines a felony as a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year. If punishable by exactly one year or less, it is classified as a misdemeanor.
Similar to felonies in some civil law countries (e.g.: Italy, Spain etc.) are delicts, whereas in others (e.g. France, Belgium, Switzerland etc.) crimes (more serious) and delicts (less serious).
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