Treason Act 1842

Last updated

Treason Act 1842 [1]
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (Variant 1, 2022).svg
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title An Act for providing for the further Security and Protection of Her Majesty's Person.
Citation 5 & 6 Vict. c. 51
Territorial extent United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent 16 July 1842
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Treason Act 1842 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Treason Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 51) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was passed early in the reign of Queen Victoria. The most recent person to be convicted under the Act was Jaswant Singh Chail, on 3 February 2023, and he was sentenced to nine years in prison on 5 October 2023. [2] He was the first person in more than 40 years to be convicted under the act.

Contents

Background

On 29 May 1842, Victoria was riding in a carriage along The Mall, London, when John Francis, described by Victoria's husband Prince Albert as a "little, swarthy, ill-looking rascal ... of the age of twenty-six to thirty, with a shabby hat and of dirty appearance", [3] aimed a pistol at her but did not fire. The following day, Victoria drove the same route, though faster and with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to provoke Francis to take a second aim and catch him in the act. As expected, Francis shot at her, but he was seized by plain clothes policemen, tried, and convicted of high treason. Francis's death sentence was commuted to transportation for life on 1 July. Two days later, in a similar attack, John William Bean fired a pistol at the Queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco. [4]

Edward Oxford, who had shot at Victoria in 1840, felt that the attempts were encouraged by his acquittal on the grounds of insanity two years before. [5] Bean's assault, though physically harmless, was still punishable by death. Feeling that such a penalty was too harsh, Albert encouraged Parliament to pass a law recognising lesser crimes against the monarch, such as intent to alarm. [6] Bean was sentenced to 18 months in gaol. [7]

Section 1

In 19th century Britain, treason had its own special rules of evidence and procedure, which made it difficult to prosecute traitors successfully, such as the requirement that the prosecution produce two witnesses to the same overt act, or that three judges preside at the trial (see Treason Act 1695 for details). The Treason Act 1800 relaxed these rules in relation to attempts on the King's life, bringing the rules in such cases in line with the less restrictive rules which then existed in ordinary murder cases. Section 1 of the 1842 Act went further, removing the special rules in all cases of treason involving any attempt to wound or maim the monarch.

This section was repealed on 15 June 1945 by the Treason Act 1945. [8] This repeal was consequential on the extension of the ordinary rules of evidence and procedure to all forms of treason by section 1 of that Act.

Section 2

This section is still in force. It created a new offence (less serious than treason, "a high misdemeanour") of assaulting the monarch, or of having a firearm or offensive weapon in his presence with intent to injure or alarm him or to cause a breach of the peace. The maximum sentence is seven years.

In 1981, Marcus Sarjeant was sentenced to five years on pleading guilty to firing blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II when she was on parade. The previous use of this Section was in 1966, when John Francis Morgan was convicted for throwing a concrete block out of a building onto the Queen's car during a royal visit to Belfast. [9]

On 2 August 2022, Jaswant Singh Chail was charged with offences under section 2 of the Treason Act 1842. He had been arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle on 25 December 2021; he was charged with "discharging or aiming firearms, or throwing or using any offensive matter or weapon, with intent to injure or alarm Her Majesty". [10] He pleaded guilty to that and other offences on 3 February 2023 at the Old Bailey. [11] [12] On 5 October he was sentenced to nine years, plus five years on extended licence [13] ; of the nine years' imprisonment, 44 months related to the charge under this section, the remainder being for having an offensive weapon contrary to section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 and making threats to kill, contrary to section 16 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. [14]

Sentence

Today, a person convicted of an offence under this section is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years. [15] Originally, an attempt to assault or alarm the monarch was made punishable by flogging and up to seven years' imprisonment. [16] No-one who violated the act was ever flogged. [17]

Relevant cases

Section 3

This section is also still in force, and provides that section 2 does not affect the penalty for treason. However, although under the Treason Act 1795 many kinds of assault on the monarch were treason, that Act was repealed in 1998. Under the present law, in Great Britain it is now only treason to "compass or imagine" the monarch's death. Consequently, assaulting the monarch is only treason if it proves that state of mind.

In Northern Ireland intending or causing "any bodily harm" to the King remains treason under the Treason Act (Ireland) 1537.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treason</span> Crime of betraying ones country

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Victoria</span> Queen of the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901

Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was longer than any of her predecessors, is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.

Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted criminals are to remain in prison for the rest of their lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or commuted to a fixed term. Crimes that warrant life imprisonment are usually violent and/or dangerous. Examples of crimes that result in life sentences are murder, torture, terrorism, child abuse resulting in death, rape, espionage, treason, drug trafficking, drug possession, human trafficking, severe fraud and financial crimes, aggravated criminal damage, arson, kidnapping, burglary, and robbery, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, severe cases of child pornography, or any three felonies in the case of a three-strikes law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in the United Kingdom</span> History of the death penalty in the UK

Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969. Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998; the last execution for treason took place in 1946. In 2004 the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom; it prohibits the restoration of the death penalty as long as the UK is a party to the convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld</span> German princess (1786–1861)

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later Princess of Leiningen and subsequently Duchess of Kent and Strathearn, was a German princess and the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. As the widow of Charles, Prince of Leiningen, from 1814, she served as regent of the Principality during the minority of her son from her first marriage, Carl, until her second wedding in 1818 to Prince Edward, fourth son of George III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High treason in the United Kingdom</span> Offence under British 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.

The Regency Acts are Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed at various times, to provide a regent in the event of the reigning monarch being incapacitated or a minor. Prior to 1937, Regency Acts were passed only when necessary to deal with a specific situation. In 1937, the Regency Act 1937 made general provision for a regent, and established the office of Counsellor of State, a number of whom would act on the monarch's behalf when the monarch was temporarily absent from the realm or experiencing an illness that did not amount to legal incapacity. This Act, as modified by the Regency Acts of 1943 and 1953, forms the main law relating to regency in the United Kingdom today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treachery Act 1940</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Treachery Act 1940 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom effective during World War II to facilitate the prosecution and execution of enemy spies, suspended afterwards, and repealed in 1968 or 1973, territory depending. The law was passed on 23 May 1940, in the month after Nazi Germany invaded France and Winston Churchill became prime minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arson in royal dockyards</span> Capital crime in the UK until 1971

Arson in royal dockyards and armories was a criminal offence in the United Kingdom and the British Empire. It was among the last offences that were punishable by capital punishment in the United Kingdom. The crime was created by the Dockyards etc. Protection Act 1772 passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, which was designed to prevent arson and sabotage against vessels, dockyards, and arsenals of the Royal Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offences Against the Person Act 1861</span> UK criminal statute

The Offences against the Person Act 1861 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated provisions related to offences against the person from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act. For the most part these provisions were, according to the draftsman of the Act, incorporated with little or no variation in their phraseology. It is one of a group of Acts sometimes referred to as the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861. It was passed with the object of simplifying the law. It is essentially a revised version of an earlier Consolidation Act, the Offences Against the Person Act 1828, incorporating subsequent statutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treason Felony Act 1848</span> United Kingdom legislation

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treason Act 1695</span> English and British legislation

The Treason Act 1695 is an Act of the Parliament of England which laid down rules of evidence and procedure in high treason trials. It was passed by the English Parliament but was extended to cover Scotland in 1708 and Ireland in 1821. Some of it is still in force today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sedition Act 1661</span> Mostly superseded United Kingdom Law

The Sedition Act 1661 was an Act of the Parliament of England, although it was extended to Scotland in 1708. Passed shortly after the Restoration of Charles II, it is no longer in force, but some of its provisions continue to survive today in the Treason Act 1695 and the Treason Felony Act 1848. One clause which was included in the Treason Act 1695 was later adapted for the United States Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treason Act (Ireland) 1537</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Treason Act (Ireland) 1537 is an Act of the former Parliament of Ireland which adds several offences to the law of treason in Ireland. It was repealed in the Republic of Ireland in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which makes significant changes in many areas of the criminal justice system in England and Wales and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In particular, it changes the law relating to custodial sentences and the early release of prisoners to reduce prison overcrowding, which reached crisis levels in 2008. It also reduces the right of prison officers to take industrial action, and changed the law on the deportation of foreign criminals. It received royal assent on 8 May 2008, but most of its provisions came into force on various later dates. Many sections came into force on 14 July 2008.

At His Majesty's pleasure is a legal term of art referring to the indeterminate or undetermined length of service of certain appointed officials or the indeterminate sentences of some prisoners. It is based on the proposition that all legitimate authority for government comes from the Crown. Originating in the United Kingdom, it is now used throughout the Commonwealth realms, Lesotho, Eswatini, Brunei and other monarchies. In realms where the monarch is represented by a governor-general, governor or administrator, the phrase may be modified to be at the Governor's pleasure or variations thereof, since the governor-general, governor, lieutenant governor or administrator is the king's personal representative in the country, state or province.

Life imprisonment is the most severe criminal sentence available to the State and Territory Supreme Courts in Australia. Most cases attracting the sentence are murder. It is also imposed, albeit rarely, for sexual assault, manufacturing and trafficking commercial quantities of illicit drugs, and offences against the justice system and government security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clerkenwell explosion</span>

The Clerkenwell explosion, also known as the Clerkenwell Outrage, was a bombing in London on 13 December 1867. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, nicknamed the "Fenians", exploded a bomb to try to free one of their members being held on remand at Clerkenwell Prison. The explosion damaged nearby houses, killed 12 people and left 120 injured. None of the prisoners escaped. The event was described by The Times the following day as "a crime of unexampled atrocity", and compared to the "infernal machines" used in Paris in 1800 and 1835 and the Gunpowder Treason of 1605. The bombing was later described as the most infamous action carried out by the Fenians in Britain in the 19th century. It enraged the public, causing a backlash of hostility in Britain which undermined efforts to establish home rule or independence for Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penal Servitude Act 1864</span> United Kingdom law

The Penal Servitude Act 1864 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act amended the Penal Servitude Act 1853 and the Penal Servitude Act 1857. The act received royal assent on 25 July 1864.

John William Bean was a British criminal and mental patient. He was most known for attempting in 1842 to assassinate Queen Victoria with a gun loaded with paper and tobacco. Born a dwarf with a hunchback, Bean shot at the Queen because he wanted to be transported to a penal colony as he was unhappy with his life in England. Instead he was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for misdemeanour assault. Bean died in 1882 after committing suicide.

References

  1. ↑ This short title was conferred by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule.
  2. ↑ "Jaswant Singh Chail: Man who took crossbow to 'kill Queen' jailed". BBC News. 5 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Hibbert, p. 422
  4. ↑ Hibbert, pp. 422–423; St Aubyn, pp. 162–163
  5. ↑ Hibbert, p. 423; St Aubyn, p. 163
  6. ↑ St Aubyn, p. 163
  7. ↑ Hibbert, p. 423
  8. ↑ Section 2(1) and the Schedule.
  9. ↑ "Concrete at Queen's car: 4 years' gaol". The Times . 27 September 1966. p. 1.
  10. ↑ "Man caught in Windsor Castle grounds charged". BBC News. 2 August 2022.
  11. ↑ Sandford, Daniel (3 February 2023). "Man admits treason charge over Queen crossbow threat". BBC News. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  12. ↑ "Jaswant Singh Chail: Windsor Castle intruder who intended to kill Queen apologises to Royal Family". Sky News. 15 September 2023.
  13. ↑ "Jaswant Singh Chail: Man who took crossbow to 'kill Queen' jailed". BBC News. 5 October 2023.
  14. ↑ R v Chail( Central Criminal Court 5 October 2023). Text
  15. ↑ The Treason Act 1842, section 2; the Penal Servitude Act 1857, section 2; the Criminal Justice Act 1948, section 1(1); the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1953, section 1(1); the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975, section 221(1)
  16. ↑ Treason Act 1842 (c.51), The National Archives, 16 July 1842, retrieved 18 September 2008
  17. ↑ Poole, pp. 199–203
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.