MISCHNA

The text of the Jewish Talmud, on which the Gemara, or second part, is a commentary. It consists of traditions and explanations of scripture. The former are supposed by the Jews to have been deliverecf to Moses on the mount, and from him to have pa ed, through the keeping of a succe ion of prophets and sages, to Rabbi Juda of Tiberias, who committed them to writing. Their compilation is supposed by modern commentators to have taken place about a.c. 150 or 190. ( See Prideaux, Connexion, vol. ii.; and Lardner, Collection of Jewish artd Heathen Testirnonies, vol.i.) MISDEMEANOR, in Law, is any offence which is the subject of indictment and punishment, not of a fe. lonious character; such are seditious. acts, perjury, battery, libels, conspiracies, attempts, and solicitations to commit felonies, . Over these offences the justices of the peace at quarter se ions have a general jurisdiction, although they m<ay be removed by certiorari to the King's Bench; and in the trial the defendant has had for a long period of time one remarkable privilege, viz. that his counsel might addre the jury, which was equally the case in treason, but not until the year 1837 in any sort of felony. The ordinary punishment of misdemeanors are by fine and imprisonments; sometimes, by statute, transportation. Misdemeanors have been sometimes termed misprisions; although this word, in its more restricted signification, is applied to concealments of felony, or treason. Ml'SELTOE, or [s. 768]