Treason Act 1766

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Treason Act 1766 [a]
Act of Parliament
Coat of Arms of Great Britain (1714-1801).svg
Long title An Act for altering the Oath of Abjuration and the Assurance; and for amending so much of an Act of the Seventh Year of her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for the Improvement of the Union of the two Kingdoms, as, after the Time therein limited, requires the Delivery of certain Lists and Copies therein mentioned to Persons indicted of High Treason, or Misprision of Treason.
Citation 6 Geo. 3. c. 53
Territorial extent  Great Britain
Dates
Royal assent 6 June 1766
Commencement 4 June 1766 [b]
Repealed15 June 1945
Other legislation
Amends
Amended by Promissory Oaths Act 1871
Repealed by Treason Act 1945
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Treason Act 1766 [a] (6 Geo. 3. c. 53) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The long title was "An Act for altering the Oath of Abjuration and the Assurance; and for amending so much of an Act of the Seventh Year of her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for the Improvement of the Union of the two Kingdoms, as, after the Time therein limited, requires the Delivery of certain Lists and Copies therein mentioned to Persons indicted of High Treason, or Misprision of Treason."

Contents

Sections 1 and 2 of the act were concerned with the oath of abjuration. Section 3 of the act disapplied certain procedural requirements in cases of high treason consisting of counterfeiting the king's coin; namely the requirement in section 11 of the Treason Act 1708 (7 Ann. c. 21) that the accused be given a list of the witnesses and the jurors. (This requirement had only come into force in 1766, on the death of James Francis Edward Stuart, the Jacobite pretender to the throne.)

Subsequent developments

The whole act was repealed on 15 June 1945 by section 2(1) of, and the schedule to, the Treason Act 1945 (8 & 9 Geo. 6. c. 44).

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 The citation of this act by this short title was authorised by section 1 of, and the first schedule 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. Section 1.

References