Treason Act 1351

The Treason Act 1351[1]

Long title Declaration what Offences shall be adjudged Treason.[2]
Citation 25 Edw 3 St 5 c 2
Revised text of statute as amended

The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England which codified and curtailed the common law offence of treason. No new offences were created by the statute.[3] It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has been very significantly amended.[4][5] It was extended to Ireland in 1495[6] and to Scotland in 1708.[7] The Act was passed at Westminster in the Hilary term of 1351, in the 25th year of the reign of Edward III and was entitled "A Declaration which Offences shall be adjudged Treason". It was passed to clarify precisely what was treason, as the definition under common law had been expanded rapidly by the courts until its scope was controversially wide. The Act was last used to prosecute William Joyce in 1945 for collaborating with Germany in World War II.

The Act is still in force in the United Kingdom. It is also still in force in some former British colonies, including New South Wales.[8][9]

Content

The Act distinguishes two varieties of treason: high treason and petty treason (or petit treason), the first being disloyalty to the Sovereign, and the second being disloyalty to a subject. The practical distinction was the consequence of being convicted: for a high treason, the penalty was death by hanging, drawing and quartering (for a man) or drawing and burning (for a woman), and the traitor's property would escheat to the Crown; in the case of a petty treason the penalty was drawing and hanging without quartering, or burning without drawing; and property escheated only to the traitor's immediate lord.

A person was guilty of high treason under the Act if they:

The penalty for counterfeiting coins was the same as for petty treason.[17] The offence had previously been called petty treason, before the Act elevated it to high treason.[18]

Under the Act petty treason was the murder of one's lawful superior: that is if a servant killed his master or his master's wife, a wife killed her husband or a clergyman killed his prelate. This offence was abolished in 1828.

The Act originally envisaged that further forms of treason would arise that would not be covered by the Act, so it legislated for this possibility. The words from "Et si per cas" onwards have been translated as:

And because that many other like Cases of Treason may happen in Time to come, which a Man cannot think nor declare at this present Time; it is accorded, That if any other Case, supposed Treason, which is not above specified, doth happen before any Justices, the Justices shall tarry without any going to Judgement of the Treason till the Cause be shewed and declared before the King and his Parliament, whether it ought to be judged Treason or other Felony.

The Act in Scotland

Following the union of England and Scotland by the Acts of Union 1707, Scotland continued to have its own treason laws until the Treason Act 1708 abolished Scottish treason law and extended English treason law to Scotland. This Act also made it treason to counterfeit the Great Seal of Scotland,[19] and to kill the Scottish Lords of Session and Lords of Justiciary[20] (in addition to forging the British – formerly English – seal, and killing English judges). However while in England and Ireland forgery of the seal of Great Britain ceased to be treason under the Forgery Act 1861, this Act did not apply to Scotland. Also, forging the Scottish seal is still treason in Scotland,[21] but has not been treason in England or Ireland since 1861.[22]

The 1351 Act still applies in Scotland today, and is a reserved matter which the Scottish Parliament has no power to modify.

Interpretation

During the trial of Roger Casement, who in 1916 was accused of collaborating with Germany during World War I, the defence argued that the Act applied only to activities carried out on British soil while Casement committed the acts of collaboration outside Britain. However, closer reading of the medieval document allowed for a broader interpretation, leading to the accusation that Casement was "hanged by a comma". The court decided that a comma should be read in the text, crucially widening the sense so that "in the realm or elsewhere" meant where acts were done and not just where the "King's enemies" might be.[23][24]

Repeals

The words from "Et si per cas" onwards were repealed by section 10(2) of, and Part I of Schedule 3 to, the Criminal Law Act 1967 and Part I of Schedule 2 to the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967.

The Act was repealed in the Republic of Ireland[25] on 16 May 1983,[26] and in New Zealand[27] on 1 January 1962.[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by section 1 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Short Titles Act 1896. Due to the repeal of those provisions, it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
  2. ↑ These words are printed against this Act in the second column of Schedule 1 to the Short Titles Act 1896, which is headed "Title".
  3. ↑ The Rights of Persons, According to the Text of Blackstone: Incorporating the Alterations Down to the Present Time, Sir William Blackstone and James Stewart, 1839, p.77
  4. ↑ legislation.gov.uk
  5. ↑ Archbold 2013, para. 25-1
  6. ↑ Poynings' Law (10 Hen.7 c.22)
  7. ↑ Treason Act 1708 (7 Anne c.21)
  8. ↑ The Crimes Act 1900, section 16
  9. ↑ "Treason Act: the facts". theguardian. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  10. ↑ Statement by Nick Clegg MP, UK parliament website, 26 March 2015 (retrieved on same date).
  11. ↑ Succession to the Crown Act 2013, from the UK Statute Law Database.
  12. ↑ Forgery, Abolition of Punishment of Death Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will 4 c 123)
  13. ↑ Forgery Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict c 98), section 1
  14. ↑ Forgery Act 1861, section 55
  15. ↑ Coinage Offences Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will 4 c 34)
  16. ↑ Hawkins' Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown (1824) p. 19, section 47, (from Google Books).
  17. ↑ 1 Hale 219-220
  18. ↑ Commentaries on the Laws of England, William Blackstone, Book 4 chapter 6
  19. ↑ Section 12
  20. ↑ Section 11
  21. ↑ Treason Act 1708, section 12
  22. ↑ Forgery Act 1861
  23. ↑ "Roger Casement's Appeal Fails". Birmingham Evening Dispatch. 18 July 1916. Retrieved 30 December 2014 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  24. ↑ G. H. Knott, The trial of Sir Roger Casement, Canadian Law Book Co., Toronto, 1917, .
  25. ↑ The Statute Law Revision Act 1983, section 1 and the Schedule
  26. ↑ The date of promulgation by President Patrick Hillery.
  27. ↑ The Crimes Act 1961, section 412(1) and Schedule 4
  28. ↑ The Crimes Act 1961, section 1(2)

External links

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