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.
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 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effective during World War II to facilitate the prosecution and execution of enemy spies, suspended afterwards, and repealed in 1968 or 1973, territory depending.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.
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.
The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England wherethrough, according to William Blackstone, common law treason offences were enumerated and no new offences were, by statute, created. 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 Act 1842 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. He was the first person in more than 40 years to be convicted under the act.
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.
The Treason Act 1945 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Offences Against the Person Act 1828, also known as Lord Lansdowne's Act, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated for England and Wales provisions in the law related to offences against the person from a number of earlier piecemeal statutes into a single act. Among the laws it replaced was clause XXVI of Magna Carta, the first time any part of Magna Carta was repealed, and the Buggery Act 1533. The act also abolished the crime of petty treason.
The Offences Against the Person Act 1837 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amended the law to lessen the severity of punishment of offences against the person, lessening the severity of the punishment of offences.
The Treasons Act 1649 or Act declaring what offences shall be adjudged Treason was passed on 17 July 1649 by the Rump Parliament during the Commonwealth of England. It superseded the Act declaring what offences shall be adjudged Treason passed about two months earlier on 14 May 1649.
The Coinage Offences Act 1832 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated England and Wales all legislation concerning the counterfeiting and clipping of coins into one act. Such conduct was often considered to be high treason: this act downgraded the offence to felony and abolished the death penalty for all coinage offences.
The Forgery Act 1837 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that abolished the punishment of the death penalty for all offences of forgery, substituting it for transportation or imprisonment.
The Forgery Act 1830 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated for England and Wales all legislation imposing the death penalty for forgery into one act. Two years later, the Forgery, Abolition of Punishment of Death Act 1832 abolished the death penalty for most of these offences. The Forgery Act 1837 abolished the death penalty for the remaining offences.
The Statute Law Revision Act 1863 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for England and Wales statutes from the 1235 to 1685 which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary. The act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of a revised edition of the statutes.
The Statute Law Revision Act 1867 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for the United Kingdom statutes from 1688 to 1770 which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary. The act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of a revised edition of the statutes.
The Statute Law Revision Act 1874 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for the United Kingdom statutes from 1801 to 1837 which had ceased to be in force or had become necessary. The act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of the revised edition of the statutes, then in progress.
The Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1861(24 & 25 Vict. c. 95) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repealed for England and Wales and Ireland statutes relating to the English criminal law from 1634 to 1860. The Act was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of a revised edition of the statutes.
The Forgery, Abolition of Punishment of Death Act 1832 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that for the United Kingdom the death penalty for all offences of forgery, except for forging wills and certain powers of attorney.
The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the laws of succession to the British throne in accordance with the 2011 Perth Agreement. The Act replaced male-preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture for those in the line of succession born after 28 October 2011, which means the eldest child, regardless of gender, precedes any siblings. The Act also repealed the Royal Marriages Act 1772, ended disqualification of a person who married a Roman Catholic from succession, and removed the requirement for those outside the first six persons in line to the throne to seek the Sovereign's approval to marry. It came into force on 26 March 2015, at the same time as the other Commonwealth realms implemented the Perth Agreement in their own laws.
