Criminal Law Act 1967
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| Long title | An Act to amend the law of England and Wales by abolishing the division of crimes into felonies and misdemeanours and to amend and simplify the law in respect of matters arising from or related to that division or the abolition of it; to do away (within or without England and Wales) with certain obsolete crimes together with the torts of maintenance and champerty; and for purposes connected therewith. |
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| Citation | 1967 c. 58 |
| Territorial extent | Part I - England and Wales, Part II & III - United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 21 July 1967 |
| Commencement | Part I - 1 January 1968, Part II & III - 21 July 1967 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Section 2 rep. by Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 |
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Status: Current legislation
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Criminal Law Act 1967 (c.58) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. However, with some minor exceptions, it generally applies to only England and Wales. It made some major changes to English criminal law. Most of it is still in force.
Several of the Act's provisions were adopted, word for word, for Northern Ireland by the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 (c 18) (NI) and the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (c 28) (NI). They were adopted for the Republic of Ireland by the Criminal Law Act 1997.
The Act has three parts. Part I abolished the distinction between felony and misdemeanour and makes consequential provisions. Part II abolished a number of obsolete crimes. Part III contains supplementary provisions.
This Part implements the recommendations made by the Criminal Law Revision Committee in their seventh report.
Section 1 abolished the distinction between felonies and misdemeanours. Originally, all crimes in English law were categorised in a hierarchy of treason, felony, and misdemeanour, each with their own rules of procedure and evidence. (Treason had been brought in line with felony in 1945.) The 1967 Act abolished felonies and stated that all former felonies would be tried according to the rules of procedure and evidence that applied in trials and pre-trial hearings for misdemeanours, whether the felony had been committed before or after the Act was passed. This also had the effect of abolishing the offences of misprision of felony and compounding a felony (but these offences were replaced with new ones in sections 4 and 5). Although all offences were now misdemeanours, the maximum penalties were not affected.
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