Treason
The Act created four new kinds of high treason, in addition to those already existing. The Act made it 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,"
or:
"within the realm or without, compass, imagine, invent, devise or intend" :
- to deprive the King of his crown,
- to levy war against the King, "within this realm, or without," or
- to "move or stir" any foreigner to invade England or any other country belonging to the King (this latter clause was derived from the Rump Parliament's Treasons Act 1649, which had been repealed in 1660).
These provisions were expressed only to have effect during the lifetime of the King, Charles II. However they were temporarily re-enacted, with two modifications, by the Treason Act 1795, and then made permanent by the Treason Act 1817. In the 1795 version, "the realm" meant Great Britain (in 1848 the Act was extended to cover Ireland), and levying war against the King was only an offence under the Act if done in order to compel the King to change his policies or to "intimidate or overawe" Parliament. (However under the Treason Act 1351, which was not affected, levying war against the King was still treason, without these additional criteria.)
The difference between the Treason Act 1351 and the Acts of 1661 and 1795 was that while the 1351 Act required an actual levying of war, the later Acts also made it treason to "compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend" a levying of war.
The penalty for treason was death. However the last three treasons on the above list were reduced to felonies by the Treason Felony Act 1848, which made the maximum sentence life imprisonment. The 1848 Act is still in force (see article for a fuller quote from the text). Imprisoning or otherwise harming the Sovereign continued to be high treason, punishable by death, until the 1795 Act was repealed by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. However assaulting the Sovereign is still an offence under the Treason Act 1842, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years.
In some Commonwealth of Nations countries, such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand it is still treason to imprison or harm the Queen.
Read more about this topic: Sedition Act 1661, New Offences
Famous quotes containing the word treason:
“O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“All men should have a drop of treason in their veins, if nations are not to go soft like so many sleepy pears.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“She who resists as though she would not win,
By her own treason falls an easy prey.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)