Common law offense

Common law offences are crimes under English criminal law and the related criminal law of other Commonwealth countries. They are offences under the common law, developed entirely by the courts, and therefore have no specific bases in legislation.

In Australia the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) abolished all common law offences at the federal level. The Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia have also abolished common law offences, but they still apply in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria.

In Canada the consolidation of criminal law in the Criminal Code, enacted in 1953, involved the abolition of all common law offences except contempt of court (preserved by section 9 of the Code).

In England and Wales the Law Commission's programme of codification of the criminal law included the aim of abolishing all the remaining common law offences and replacing them, where appropriate, with offences precisely defined by statute. Common law offences were seen as unacceptably vague and open to development by the courts in ways that might offend the principle of certainty. However, neither the Law Commission nor Parliament have completed the necessary revisions of the law, so common law offences still exist. In England and Wales common law offences are punishable by unlimited fines and unlimited imprisonment.

Extant common law offences are listed at English criminal law#Common law offences, and those that have been abolished or redefined as statutory offences are listed at History of English criminal law#Common law offences.

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