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The concept of "felony" rests upon an oddly circular legal fiction; the common law has never actually defined the act of felony, yet its prosecution proceeds as though it has. Legal historian Frederic William Maitland explained that the medieval concept of felony can only be known "by its legal effects; any definition that would turn upon the quality of the crime is unattainable". As explained above, felony is still defined today in American jurisprudence

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