Eavesdropping

In English criminal law. The offense of listening under walls or windows or the eaves of a house, to hearken after discourse, and thereupon to frame slanderous and mischievous teles.

4 Bl. Comm. 168.

It is a misdemeanor at common law, indictable at sessions, and punishable by fine and finding sureties for good behavior.

Id.; Steph. Crim. Law, 109. See State v. Pennington, 3 Head (Tenn.) 300, 75 Am. Dec. 771; Co.m. v. Lovett, 4 Clark (Pa.) 5; Selden v. State, 74 Win. 271, 42 N. W. 218, 17 Am. St Rep. 144.