Arson (Old Fr. from Lat. ardere, 'to burn'), in the criminal law of England, is a felony, described as the malicious and wilful burning of the house or building of another man. It is essential to the offence that the house or building burned should be that of another; to destroy one's own house by fire, especially in a town, or where other buildings are contiguous, which are thereby put in danger, is only a misdemeanour. Mere negligence will not support a charge of arson—there must be criminal intention. The matter is dealt with by the Criminal Law Consolidation Act of 1861, and various penalties of penal servitude and imprisonment are imposed. The statutory offence includes the setting fire to a house in the possession of the offender, if it be done with intent to defraud, and also the setting fire to growing woods and farm produce (the most frequent form of this offence), and to any goods in a house which it would be a felony to set fire to. The statute also includes the case of using explosives against a house, and renders all attempts at arson offences punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment. By special statutes for the protection of the public service, setting fire to ships of war, arsenals, government stores, &c., or the attempt to do so, is punishable by death. For Pyromania, see EPIDEMIC.
In Scotland, the technical term is wilful fire-raising. This is properly confined to setting fire to buildings, growing or stored corn, growing wood, or coal-heughs; but the common law extends to many minor offences, such as burning sheds, hay-stacks, and furniture. A man is of course entitled to burn his own property; but one of the most common offences is burning property with intent to defraud insurers. The tendency of the Scots law is to exact a wider criminal responsibility than in England for negligence in fire-raising, and for the indirect results of the offender's act. The statutory punishment of wilful fire-raising in Scotland is still death, but penal servitude is the punishment actually inflicted.