Treason Felony Act 1848

{{Short description|Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Treason Felony Act 1848{{efn|The citation of this act by this short title was authorised by section 5 of, and schedule 2 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1948. Due to the repeal of those provisions, it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.}}

| type = Act

| year = 1848

| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom

| long_title = An Act for the better Security of the Crown and Government of the United Kingdom.

| citation = 11 & 12 Vict. c. 12

| territorial_extent = United Kingdom

| royal_assent = 22 April 1848

| commencement = 22 April 1848{{efn|The Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793.}}

| repeal_date =

| amendments = Statute Law Revision Act 1875

| related_legislation = {{ubli|Sedition Act 1661|Treason Act 1695|Treason Act 1795}}

| repealing_legislation =

| status = Amended

| original_text = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/11-12/12/contents/enacted

| use_new_UK-LEG = yes

}}

The Treason Felony Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 12) 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.

The offences in the act were originally high treason under the Sedition Act 1661 (13 Cha. 2 St. 1. c. 1) (later the Treason Act 1795 (36 Geo. 3. c. 7)), and consequently the penalty was death. However it was found that juries were often reluctant to convict people of capital crimes, and it was thought that the conviction rate might increase if the sentence was reduced to exile to the penal colonies in Australia (the penalty is now life imprisonment). Consequently, in 1848, three categories of treason (all derived from the 1795 Act) were reduced to felonies. (This occurred during a period when the death penalty in the United Kingdom was being abolished for a great many offences.) The act does not prevent prosecutors from charging somebody with treason instead of treason felony if the same conduct amounts to both offences.Section 6.

It is treason felony to "compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend":

to deprive the Sovereign of his crown,
to levy war against the Sovereign, or
to "move or stir" any foreigner to invade the United Kingdom or any other country belonging to the Sovereign.

Punishment and procedure

Treason felony is an indictable-only offence.The Treason Felony Act 1848, section 3; the Criminal Law Act 1967, section 1 It is punishable with imprisonment for life or any shorter term.The Treason Felony Act 1848, section 3; 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)

Despite the name, it is no longer a felony, as the distinction between felony and misdemeanour was abolished by the Criminal Law Act 1967.

In Northern Ireland, a person charged with treason felony may not be admitted to bail except by order of the High Court or of the Secretary of State.The Magistrates' Courts Order (Northern Ireland) 1981 (No.1675 (N.I.26)), article 38

= Scottish Parliament =

Treason felony is a reserved matter on which the Scottish Parliament cannot legislate.The Scotland Act 1998 (c.46), section 29(1) and (2)(b) and paragraph 10 of Part I of Schedule 5

Text

Section 3 of the act provides:

{{quote|

3. Offences herein mentioned declared to be felonies

If any person whatsoever shall, within the United Kingdom or without, compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend to deprive or depose our Most Gracious Lady the Queen, from the style, honour, or royal name of the imperial crown of the United Kingdom, or of any other of her Majesty's dominions and countries, or to levy war against her Majesty, within any part of the United Kingdom, in order by force or constraint to compel her to change her measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon or in order to intimidate or overawe both Houses or either House of Parliament, or to move or stir any foreigner or stranger with force to invade the United Kingdom or any other of her Majesty's dominions or countries under the obeisance of her Majesty, and such compassings, imaginations, inventions, devices, or intentions, or any of them, shall express, utter, or declare, by publishing any printing or writing ... or by any overt act or deed, every person so offending shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable ... to be transported beyond the seas for the term of his or her natural life.}}

The ellipses represent words that have subsequently been repealed.

Section 10 of the Interpretation Act 1978 says that references to the Sovereign reigning at the time of the passing of the Treason Felony Act are to be construed as references to the Sovereign for the time being.[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/30/section/10 Section 10 of the Interpretation Act 1978] at the National Archives website

Repealed provisions

Penal transportation was abolished in 1868,[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=347&j=1 Transportation to Australia 1787-1868]. National Archives. leaving life imprisonment as the maximum sentence.

Section 4 of the act contained strict rules about treason felony when committed only by speaking. A conviction required a confession in open court, or the evidence of two witnesses to prove the words spoken. Also a prosecution had to be brought within six days of the offence. Section 4 was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1891.

Discussions

In 2001, The Guardian newspaper mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge to the act in the High Court, alleging that the act "makes it a criminal offence, punishable by life imprisonment, to advocate abolition of the monarchy in print, even by peaceful means".[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldjudgmt/jd030626/rus-1.htm Judgments - Regina v Her Majesty's Attorney General (Appellant) ex parte Rusbridger and another (Respondents)]. House of Lords. 26 June 2003 They sought a declaration that the Human Rights Act 1998 had altered its meaning so that only violent conduct was criminal. The court held that this was a hypothetical question that did not deserve an answer, since The Guardian was not being prosecuted. The case eventually went to the House of Lords on appeal in 2003. In a unanimous judgement, the Lords agreed that the litigation was unnecessary; but the judges nevertheless agreed with Lord Steyn's view that

[T]he part of section 3 of the 1848 Act which appears to criminalise the advocacy of republicanism is a relic of a bygone age and does not fit into the fabric of our modern legal system. The idea that section 3 could survive scrutiny under the Human Rights Act is unreal.R. (Rusbridger) v. Attorney General [2003] UKHL 38; [2004] AC 357; [2003] 3 All ER 784

In December 2013, the Ministry of Justice said that Section 3 of the act, which had made it an offence punishable by life imprisonment to print, or otherwise "by any overt act or deed" to support the abolition of the monarchy or to "imagine, invent, devise, or intend to deprive or depose" the monarch, had been repealed in early 2013, without publicity.{{cite web |url=http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/national/news/10877062.Monarchy_law_repealed_165_years_on/ |title=Monarchy law repealed 165 years on |newspaper=Lancashire Telegraph |date=13 December 2013 |author=Press Association |accessdate=15 April 2016 |archive-date=28 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428005637/http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/national/news/10877062.Monarchy_law_repealed_165_years_on/ |url-status=dead }} However, the Government later stated that the announcement that it had been repealed was wrong, and that it was still on the statute book.{{cite news |last1=Bowcott |first1=Owen |title=Calling for abolition of monarchy is still illegal, UK justice ministry admits |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/13/calling-abolition-monarchy-illegal-uk-justice-ministry |df=dmy-all |accessdate=2022-01-04 |work=The Guardian |date=2013-12-13}}

Relevant cases

R v. Mitchel (1848) 7 State Tr. N.S. 599
R v. Cuffey (1848) 7 State Tr. N.S. 467, 12 JP 648
R v. Meany (1867) 10 Cox CC [https://books.google.com/books?id=lGY0AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA506 506], IR 1 CL 500
Mulcahy v. R (1868) LR 3 HL 306
R v. Davitt (1870) 11 Cox CC 676
R v. Deasy (1883) 15 Cox CC 334

The last reported case under the act in the United Kingdom was in 1883, although the act was used in Australia in 1916 to prosecute the "Sydney Twelve".

In 1972 three Irish republicans Joseph Callinan, Louis Marcantonio and Thomas Quinn were initially charged with treason felony, although this was later dropped in favour of lesser charges of seditious utterances.{{cite web | url=https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/24704 | title=When did free speech become a British 'value'? | date=21 January 2015 | first=Mark | last=Moloney | publisher=An Phoblacht | accessdate=13 June 2019 }}{{better source needed|date=October 2022|reason=Unreliable source as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_299#RfC:_An_Phoblacht}}

Parliamentary debates

[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1848/apr/07/security-of-the-crown Hansard (House of Commons)], 10 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 20 - 59 (first reading)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1848/apr/10/crown-and-government-security-bill Hansard (House of Commons)], 10 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 74 - 135 (second reading)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1848/apr/11/crown-and-government-security-bill Hansard (House of Commons)], 11 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 153 - 175 (motion to go into committee)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1848/apr/12/crown-and-government-security-bill Hansard (House of Commons)], 12 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 223 - 259 (motion to go into committee)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1848/apr/14/crown-and-government-security-bill Hansard (House of Commons)], 14 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 341 - 379 (committee)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1848/apr/17/crown-and-government-security-bill Hansard (House of Commons)], 17 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 417 - 431 (report)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1848/apr/18/crown-and-government-security-bill Hansard (House of Commons)], 18 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 453 - 479 (third reading)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1848/apr/18/minutes Hansard (House of Lords)], 18 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 447 (first reading)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1848/apr/19/crown-and-government-security-bill Hansard (House of Lords)], 19 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 486 - 507 (second reading)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1848/apr/20/crown-and-government-security-bill Hansard (House of Lords)], 20 April 1848, vol. 98, col. 534 - 537 (third reading)
[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1848/apr/22/minutes Hansard (House of Lords)], 22 April 1848, vol. 98 (royal assent)

Notes

References

Halsbury's Laws of England, 4th Edition, 2006 reissue, Volume 11(1), Paragraph 367

External links

{{wikisource-inline|single=true}}
{{UK-LEG|path=ukpga/1848/12|type=ukpga|title=Treason Felony Act 1848}}
[https://www.theguardian.com/monarchy/story/0,2763,985799,00.html Lords halt challenge to treason law] - The Guardian, Thursday 26 June 2003
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldjudgmt/jd030626/rus-1.htm House of Lords judgement] - UK Parliament website

Category:1848 in British law

Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1848

Category:Republicanism in the United Kingdom

Category:English criminal law

Category:Treason in the United Kingdom

Category:Treason Acts

Category:Lèse-majesté