History
The Act was passed because previously the law had been extremely harsh, allowing little opportunity for a defendant to defend himself and enabling trumped-up charges of treason to succeed. However between 1817 and 1998 the protection of the Act was removed from those accused of treason by assaulting the heir to the throne, or misprision of such treason.
Today most of the Act has been repealed, but the three year time limit still survives (see below), and of course the rights to be represented and to have a copy of the indictment (now free of charge) still exist in other legislation. However the "two witnesses" rule no longer exists in the United Kingdom. In 1800 this rule, and all other special rules of evidence in treason cases, were abolished for cases of killing or attempting to kill the Sovereign. The Treason Act 1842 extended this exception still further, to all attempts to maim or wound the Sovereign (non-lethal assaults on the Sovereign were treason until 1998). Finally, in 1945, the special status of treason was removed for all kinds of treason, and ever since then the evidence required, and the procedure followed, in treason proceedings has been the same as in murder trials.
Repeals
Sections 2 and 4 were repealed in part by the Statute Law Revision Act 1888. The Treason Act 1945 repealed the whole Act, except for sections 5 and 6. Section 5 was repealed in part by the Statute Law Revision Act 1948.
Read more about this topic: Treason Act 1695
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