Arson in Historical Common Law - Essay Example

Arson at common law was a highly punishable offence and those found guilty were punished by being burnt to death. The cause of the crime was largely speculated that it resulted from fire (Carlan, Nored & Downey, 2011).

However, it was also pointed out that fires that were caused due to arson did not necessarily cause permanent destruction of a structure rather it involved the slightest impacts of structure caused by fire. Back then, the magnitude of fire to a structure was determined by the presence of charring making other impacts like blackening not to be considered as an act of arson. Things like detonations were not considered acts of arson as the act was considered the end result of the products which resulted from the fire itself. Moreover, arson in historical common law also included burning materials that were within a structure as they were considered as part of the structure itself. This excludes personal property as it was not included in the common law of arson since chances of an individual suffering a loss caused by others was limited. Individuals who lost their personal property through burning had no one to lay their blame on; thus stomached their losses individually.

For an act of arson to occur, it was required that the burning act should be accompanied by more than one action hence finding an individual to be liable for the punishment. It emphasized that the act in question was to involve a house or any place which was used by individuals to serve the same purpose as a dwelling place. A dwelling in arson common law was considered as a place known by the public to exist therefore a place that was viewed by individuals to have the potential of providing shelter to an individual. In addition, dwellings did not have to be places that currently contained individuals but even those that we're currently not being inhabited by individuals. Places that were considered to be illegal but were inhabited by individuals were considered under the arson common law in cases where the crime was perpetrated (Carlan, Nored & Downey, 2011).
Therefore the attending circumstances which determined the act of fire as arson were dwelling and second party individuals.

Arson for Current Louisiana State Statue
The current Louisiana state statute recognizes arson in different forms and they include aggravated arsons, simple arson, arson with an intention of committing a fraud, making false communication to parties with an intention of perpetrating arson, obstructing efforts of those putting out a fire, creating and owning explosive devices, starting a fire on other properties owned by other individuals and neglecting to put it out, starting intentional a fire on lands owned by individuals and all other related offences which directly relates to the acts mentioned above, support the acts or try to conceal the acts. The main purposes of the statute are to prevent, dissuade, investigate and bring to book those found liable for perpetuating the act (Mission Statement & Program Goals. (n.d.).2014).

Comparison to Historical Law
Arson for current Louisiana differs from the historical law because unlike the historical law, there is a classification of offences committed through the act of arson and their punishment is determined via the levels and classification of the offences in question. The statute separates offences committed under the dangerous situation which threatens the life of human beings unlike the historical arson which did not weigh the magnitude of the arson committed; it just mainly focused on burning down a structure that had the potential of inhabiting human beings. The current Louisiana arson statute distinguishes arson that causes the harm from those which do not cause harm. An example is that when an individual sets fire on a structure and individuals are harmed in the process like police or firefighters, the penalty for the offender will be much heftier than in a scenario where individuals are not harmed.

Secondly, the Louisiana arson statute differs from historical arson as unlike arson in historical common law which takes into consideration only dwellings that provided sheltered used for sleeping purposes, it involves all types of building structures, vehicles and even personal properties.