Accessory, or ACCESSORY. In the criminal law of England, an accessory is a person who is not the chief actor in a felony, nor even present at its perpetration, but who is in some way concerned, either before or after the fact. An accessory before the fact is one who procures or counsels or commands another to commit a crime, he himself being absent. But mere knowledge that a crime is to be committed is not enough to constitute an accessory, as the principal may go far beyond the counsel given. An accessory after the fact is a person who, knowing a felony to have been committed, receives, protects, or assists the felon; but merely suffering the principal to escape is not enough. In unpremeditated offences, there can obviously be no accessories before the fact; in all crimes under the degree of felony there are no accessories at all, but all persons concerned are held to be guilty as principals. There are no accessories in treason, but all are principals, on account of the heinousness of the crime. Accessories must be distinguished from principals in the second degree, who are present aiding and abetting, and generally receive the same punishment as principals.
In the Scottish law, 'art and part' is the equivalent to accessory, but it also includes principals in the second degree. No distinction is made between guilt by commission and guilt by accession; but, except in treason, accession after the crime is not recognised in Scotland. The most common form of it is, however, prosecuted under the name of reset of theft.
In the United States, the common law distinction between principals and accessories has been abolished by statute, and every person concerned in the commission of a crime, whether he directly commits the act constituting the offence, or aids and abets in its commission, is a principal.