House burning, at least at common law, meant burning your own dwelling; that is, the structure in which you sleep. In order to be prosecuted for house burning, your dwelling had to be situated close enough to other houses as to create a danger to them. If you burned someone else's dwelling (even if you owned it and they resided in it), that was considered arson.

Today, if you burn your house in most states and endanger the property of others in the process, you would probably be charged with arson or some form of endangering property. If you set fire to your property for some sort of fraud, such as to collect insurance, that would be arson.

It should be noted that in common law, it is not arson to burn your own house for the purpose of defrauding an insurance company. However, most states do now consider that to be arson.

(Reviewed 12-08)