Odger's English Common Law

MISPRISION : COMPOUNDING. 209
guilty of misprision of felony, which, is a misdemeanour.
The least act of encouragement or assistance will make him
a felon either as principal or accessory. The punishment for
misprision of felony is fine or imprisonment for any time not
exceeding a year and a day. 1
a misdemeanour.
Compounding.
It is no crime to misprise
Compounding a felony is a misdemeanour. If a man
knows that a felony has been committed and who it was that
committed it, and then agrees for valuable consideration not
to prosecute the felon or to endeavour to prevent his prosecu-
tion by others, he is guilty of compounding the felony.
Thus, if the owner of goods which have been stolen receives
back his goods or obtains their value by promising not to
prosecute, he is compounding a felony. So if a man prefers
a criminal charge and then for valuable consideration promises
not to proceed with it. But if he merely takes possession of
his own property again wherever he can find it, he commits
no offence, provided no favour be shown to the thief. A
third person, not the owner of the goods stolen, can be guilty
of this offence. 2
By 18 Eliz. c. 5, it is a misdemeanour for an informer to bring an action
under a penal statute and then to compound it without the leave of the
Court. By 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 101, any person taking money or reward
from the owner of goods that have been stolen or obtained by false
pretences or embezzled, under the pretence (real or false) of helping him to
recover them, is guilty of felony, unless he shall have used all due diligence
to cause the offender to be brought to trial. And by s. 102 of the same
Act, any person publishing advertisements for the recovery of stolen pro-
perty, promising that no questions will be asked, &c, is liable to a penalty
of £50 ; and so is the printer and publisher of the paper, but in this case
the action must be brought within six months and with the leave of the
Attorney-General or Solicitor- General.
As to compounding a misdemeanour, the law is not clear.
There is no case reported in which any one has been convicted
1 Statute of Westminster, 1275, 3 Edw. I. o. 9. The same statute inflicts severer
punishment on an officer or constable guilty of such misprision.
2 B. v. Burgesi (1885), 16 Q. B. D. 141.
B.C.L. 14