Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state. A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor.
In English history, the penal laws were a series of laws that sought to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Catholicism and Protestant nonconformists by imposing various forfeitures, civil penalties, and civil disabilities upon these recusants. The penal laws in general were repealed in the early 19th century during the process of Catholic Emancipation. Penal actions are civil in nature and were not English common law.
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; committing adultery with the sovereign's consort, with the sovereign's eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the throne; levying war against the sovereign and adhering to the sovereign's enemies, giving them aid or comfort; and attempting to undermine the lawfully established line of succession. Several other crimes have historically been categorised as high treason, including counterfeiting money and being a Catholic priest.
Petty treason or petit treason was an offence under the common law of England in which a person killed or otherwise violated the authority of a social superior, other than the king. In England and Wales, petty treason ceased to be a distinct offence from murder by virtue of the Offences against the Person Act 1828. It was abolished in Ireland in 1829. It never existed in Scotland. It has also been abolished in other common-law countries.
The Treasons Act 1534 or High Treason Act 1534 was an Act of the Parliament of England passed in 1534, during the reign of King Henry VIII.
Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a proper authority.
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. It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has been very significantly amended. It was extended to Ireland in 1495 and to Scotland in 1708. 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 Treason Felony Act 1848 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Parts of the Act are still in force. It is a law which protects the King and the Crown.
The Treason Act 1790 was an Act of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain which abolished burning at the stake as the penalty for women convicted of high treason, petty treason and abetting, procuring or counselling petty treason, and replaced it with drawing and hanging.
Treason Act or Treasons Act or Statute of Treasons is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland on the subject of treason and related offences.
The Treason Act 1795 was one of the Two Acts introduced by the British government in the wake of the stoning of King George III on his way to open Parliament in 1795, the other being the Seditious Meetings Act 1795. The Act made it high treason to "within the realm or without compass, imagine, invent, devise or intend death or destruction, or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim or wounding, imprisonment or restraint, of the person of ... the King". This was derived from the Sedition Act 1661, which had expired. The 1795 Act was originally a temporary Act which was to expire when George III died, but it was made permanent by the Treason Act 1817.
The Succession to the Crown Act 1707 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain. It is still partly in force in Great Britain.
The Treason Act 1543 was an Act of the Parliament of England passed during the reign of King Henry VIII of England, which stated that acts of treason or misprision of treason that were committed outside the realm of England could be tried within England. Those convicted of high treason would have their estates confiscated by the King and then be hanged, drawn and quartered.
To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272). The convicted traitor was fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution, where he was then hanged, emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded, and quartered. His remains would then often be displayed in prominent places across the country, such as London Bridge, to serve as a warning of the fate of traitors. For reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were instead burned at the stake.
The Treason Act 1553 was an Act of the Parliament of England.
An Acte agaynst counterfeting of forrayne Coyne was an Act of the Parliament of England passed in 1488. It made it high treason to counterfeit coinage from other countries. It was repealed by the Treason Act 1553, but another Act passed later in the same year recreated the offence.
The Treason Act 1535 or Forging the Sign-manual, etc. Act 1535 was an Act passed by the English Parliament during the reign of King Henry VIII of England in 1535.
The Treason Act 1415 was an Act of the Parliament of England which made clipping coins high treason, punishable by death. The Act was repealed by the Treason Act 1553, and then revived again in 1562. The Act originally only protected English coins, but was later extended in 1575 to cover foreign coins "current" within England. By this time the Coin Act 1572 had already made it misprision of treason to clip foreign coins not current within the Realm.
The Jurors (Scotland) Act 1745 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, passed during the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Its long title was "An Act for the more easy and speedy Trial of such Persons as have levied, or shall levy War against His Majesty; and for the better ascertaining the Qualifications of Jurors in Trials for High Treason or Misprision of Treason, in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland." It was one of the Juries (Scotland) Acts 1745 to 1869.
The Treason Act 1743 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which made it high treason to correspond with any of the sons of James Francis Edward Stuart, who claimed to be king of Great Britain and of Ireland. His sons were Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Benedict Stuart.
