View source for Compounding a felony

{{Short description|Former common law offence}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Compounding a felony''' was an offence under the [[English law#Common law|common law of England]] and was classified as a [[misdemeanour]]. It consisted of a prosecutor or victim of an offence accepting anything of value under an agreement not to prosecute, or to hamper the prosecution of, a felony.<ref>Boyce & Perkins, Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (1992) at 576.</ref>  To "compound", in this context, means to come to a settlement or agreement.<ref>{{cite web|title=compound - definition of compound by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/compound|publisher=Farlex, Inc.|access-date=18 April 2014}}</ref>
It is not compounding for the victim to accept an offer to return stolen property, or to make restitution, as long as there is no agreement not to prosecute.

Compounding has been replaced by statutory provision in numerous jurisdictions that recognize common law offences:<ref>{{citation|last=Dasinger|first=Brian|title=Felonies|url=http://www.dasingerdefene.com/legal-services/criminal-defense/felonies/|access-date=18 April 2014|year=2014}}{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* [[England and Wales]], replaced with concealing offences or giving false information<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Criminal Law Act 1967 |year=1967 |chapter=58 |section=5}}, subsection (5)</ref>
* [[Northern Ireland]]<ref>The [[Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967]] (c.18), section 5(5)</ref>
* The [[Republic of Ireland]]<ref>The [[Criminal Law Act 1997]] (No.14), section 8(3)</ref>
* [[New South Wales]]<ref>The [[Crimes Act 1900]], [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082/s341.html section 341]</ref>

Compounding a misdemeanor is not an offence at common law.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Compounding of Offences|url=http://lawtimesjournal.in/compounding-of-offences/|last=Tripathi|first=Ayushi|date=2019-09-30|website=Law Times Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=This is not an authority on common law, and makes claims only in an Indian context. Wikipedia seems to have plagiarized this article previously. When verifying please check out this article's own sources first|date=January 2023}} However, an agreement not to prosecute a misdemeanor is unenforceable as being contrary to [[Public policy doctrine|public policy]].<ref>Boyce & Perkins, ''Criminal Law'', 3rd ed. (1992) at 578.</ref>{{verify inline|reason=This article probably plagiarized the Law Times Journal previously. If so this should have said "cited in" when citing that source. LTJ does not specifically cite Boyce for this claim. Needs direct verification now|date=January 2023}}

==See also==
* [[Compounding treason]], same sense of "compounding" applied to the crime of [[treason]]
* [[Misprision of felony]], failing to report knowledge of a felony
* [[Theftbote]], private arrangement between felon and victim, to obviate fines due to the King
* [[Perverting the course of justice]], common-law offence
* [[Settlement (litigation)]], permitted in civil law

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{History of English criminal law}}

[[Category:Crimes]]
[[Category:English legal terminology]]
[[Category:Law of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Inchoate offenses]]
[[Category:Common law offences in England and Wales]]
[[Category:Criminal law legal terminology]]


{{UK-law-stub}}