Burglary (an Old Fr. law term, made up of bourg, 'a town,' and leres, 'a robber,' from Lat. latro), in the criminal law of England, is defined to be a breaking and entering a dwelling-house by night, with intent to commit some felony therein, whether such intent be executed or not. By the Consolidation Act, 1861, night is defined as extending from 9 P.M. to 6 A.M. House means a permanent building in which the owner, or the tenant, or any member of the family habitually sleeps at night. A building may be constructed in several parts without internal communication so as to constitute separate houses, but outhouses, at least, where there is communication either immediate or by means of a covered or inclosed passage, are regarded as part of the dwelling-house. Occasional residence is sufficient, but not the mere sleeping of a caretaker in a house not otherwise used as a residence. Burglary thus corresponds to the ancient hamsocna or hamfare of the Anglo-Saxon law, which did not adopt, as was elsewhere done, a distinction depending on the number of house-breakers. The punishment was formerly capital, but since 1837 the maximum punishment is penal servitude for life, and not less than five years' penal servitude, or two years' imprisonment. This punishment may also be inflicted in the case of breaking into a place of worship and committing a felony there, although by day. As regards similar offences during the day, and in buildings not dwelling-houses, see HOUSEBREAKING. Neither the name Burglary, nor the legal distinction, is known to the Scottish law, although housebreaking by night is generally reckoned a more serious affair than housebreaking by day.
In the United States, burglary is punished by state laws, but the common law is generally followed. Some states include breaking into shops, offices, warehouses, factories, and meeting-houses as burglary. An act by congress of 1825 expressly includes breaking into boats and vessels with intent to commit a felony. In some states the same deed done in the daytime is defined as burglary in the second degree. The night is the time between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise, or when the features of a man cannot be clearly discerned. In the United States, burglary is never punished by penal servitude for life.