Burglary

Burglary, also known as breaking and entering or housebreaking, is a property crime defined as entering a building or other space illegally and without permission, usually to commit another crime. While that other crime is often theft, larceny, robbery, or murder, many legal systems also include other offenses under burglary. The act itself is called burgling or burglarizing, both of which are back-formations from the word burglar.

The term's origins are debated. Sir Edward Coke, writing in the 1600s, traced it to the words *burgh* and *laron*, meaning "house-thieves," based on a legal case. One textbook suggests an Anglo-Saxon or Old English root from the Germanic words *burg* (house) and *laron* (thief). Another theory points to the later Latin *burgare* (to break open or commit burglary), from *burgus* (fortress or castle), which passed through French and Middle English, influenced by the Latin *latro* (thief).

Ancient references to breaking into a home appear in the Code of Hammurabi and the Torah. Sir Edward Coke's legal writings distinguished burglary from housebreaking by noting that the night aggravated the offense, as it was a time of rest and when a person's face could not be seen. Sir Matthew Hale classified burglary and arson as offenses against the dwelling. Sir William Blackstone described burglary as a very serious crime due to the terror it causes and its invasion of the right to habitation. In the 19th century, English lawmakers, led by Sir Robert Peel, codified laws on larceny and property offenses, with further reforms in 1861. Colonial legislatures largely adopted these English reforms, and while further codification stalled in England in the 1880s, colonies like Canada, India, New Zealand, and Australian states enacted their own criminal codes.

Under common law, as defined by Sir Matthew Hale, burglary was the breaking and entering of another's house at night with intent to commit a felony there, whether or not the felony was actually carried out. Breaking could be actual (forcing a door) or constructive (using fraud or threats) and did not require physical damage. A person with permission to enter part of a house but not another commits breaking and entering if they use any means to enter a restricted room that was not open to them. Entering could involve a person's body or the insertion of an instrument to remove property, though inserting a tool just to gain entry might not count. Both breaking and entering were required; one without the other was insufficient. The entry also had to result from the breaking—for example, if someone pried open a window but then used an open door instead, it was not burglary. Under the instrumentality rule, using a tool to break in did not constitute entry, but if any part of the perpetrator's body entered while trying to get in, the rule no longer applied. A "house" included a temporarily empty dwelling but not a building used only occasionally. "Night time" was defined as the period from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise. The intent had to be to commit a felony "therein," though this word did not limit the crime to felonies committed on the premises. Most jurisdictions have since expanded the common-law definition: the building need not be a dwelling, physical breaking is not required, entry does not have to occur at night, and the intent can be any felony or theft.

Some studies suggest that most burglars will scout their target multiple times before committing the crime.