Crime Against Nature

Sodomy. CRIMEN (Lat.) A crime.

In the civil law. A charge of crime. -

— Crimen Falsi. In civil law. A fraudulent alteration, or forgery, to conceal or alter the truth, to the prejudice of 'another. This crime may be committed in three ways, namely: by forgery; by false declarations or false oath, — ^perjury; by acts, as by dealing with false weights and measures, by altering the current coin, by making false keys and the like. See Dig. 48. 10. 22; Id. 34. 8. 2; Code, 9. 22; Id. 2. 5. 9. 11. 16. 17. 23. 24; Merlin, Repert.; 1 Brown, Civ. Law, 426; 1 Phil. Ev. 26; 2 Starkie, Ev. 715. At common law. Any crime which may injuriously aflfect the administration of justice, by the introduction of falsehood and fraud. 1 Greenl, Ev. § 373. The meaning of this term at common law is not well defined. It has been held to Include forgery (5 Mod. 74), perjury, subornation of perjury (Co. Litt. 6b; Comyn, Dig. "Testmoigne" [A 5]), suppression of testimony by bribery or conspiracy to procure the absence of a witness ([Ryan & M. 434), conspiracy to accuse of crime (2 Hale, P. C. 277; 2 Leach, C. C. 496; 3 Starkie, 21; 2 Dods. Adm. 191), barratry (2 Salk. 690). The effect of a conviction for a crime of this class is infamy, and incompetency to testify. Statutes sometimes provide what shall be such crimes. ■^Crimen Furti. The offense of theft. Crimen Incendii. In old criminal law.' The crime of burning, which included not only the modern crime of arson, or burning of a house, but also the burning of a man, beast, or other chattel. Britt. c. 9; Crabb, Hist. Eng. Law, 308. Crimen Innomlnatum. The nameless crime; sodomy. Crimen Laesae-Majestatls. Injuring or violating the majesty of the king's person; any crime affecting the king's person. 4 Bl. Comm. 76. —

— Crimen Raptus. Rape. Crimen Roberiae. Robbery. ■—^Crimen Trahit Personam. The crime carries the person; i. e., the commission of a crime gives the courts of the place where it is committed jurisdiction over the person Of the offender. 3 Denio (N. Y.) 190, 210.

Sodomy or buggery. Ausman v. Veal, 10 Ind. 355, 71 Am. Dec. 331.

The offense of buggery or sodomy. State v. Vicknair, 52 La. Ann. 1921, 28 South. 273 ; Ausman v. Veal, 10 Ind. 355, 71 Am Dec. 331; People v. Williams, 59 Cal. 307.

Defined under Crime in Black's Law Dictionary.

The offense of buggery or sodomy.