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TREASON (Fr. trahison, Lat. traditio)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 228 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TREASON (Fr. trahison, See also:Lat. traditio) , a See also:general See also:term for the See also:crime of attacking the safety of a See also:sovereign See also:state or its See also:head. The See also:law which punishes treason is a necessary consequence of the See also:idea of a state, and is essential to the existence of the state. Most, if not all, nations have accordingly, at an See also:early See also:period of their See also:history, made See also:provision by legislation or otherwise for its See also:punishment. The principle is universal, though its tt~~-. 1 Electuary (Lat. electuarium), is probably derived from Gr. MX&KT W, used in the same sense, from ixXet,ecr, to lick out. application has led to See also:differences of See also:opinion. What would have been a See also:capital crime at See also:Rome under Tiberius may be no offence at all in See also:England. It is to the See also:advantage of the. state and the See also:citizen that what is treason and what is not should be clearly defined, so that as little as possible discretionary See also:power, See also:apt to be strained in times of popular excitement, should be See also:left to the judicial or executive authorities. The importance of this was seen by See also:Montesquieu. Vagueness in the crime of treason, says he, is sufficient to make the See also:government degenerate into despotism.2 At the same See also:time, it may be observed that despotic governments have not always left the crime undefined. The See also:object of See also:Henry VIII., for instance, was rather to define it as closely as possible by making certain acts treason which would not have been so without such See also:definition.

In both See also:

ancient and See also:modern history treason has generally been a crime prosecuted by exceptional See also:procedure, and visited with afflictive as distinguished from See also:simple punishments (to use the terminology of See also:Bentham). See also:Roman Law.—In Roman law the offences originally falling under the head of treason were almost exclusively those committed in military service, such as in England would be dealt with under the See also:Army See also:Act. The very name perduellio, the name of the crime in the older Roman law, is a See also:proof of this. Perduelles were, strictly, public enemies who See also:bore arms against the state; and traitors were regarded as having no more rights than public enemies. The Twelve Tables made it punishable with See also:death to communicate with the enemy or to betray a citizen to the enemy. Other kinds of perduellio were punished by See also:interdiction of See also:fire and See also:water. The crime was tried before a See also:special tribunal, the duumviri perduellionis, perhaps the earliest permanent criminal See also:court existing at Rome. At a later period the name of perduellio gave See also:place to that of laesa majestas, deminuta or minuta majestas, or simply majestas. The lex Julia majestatis, to which the date of 48 B.C. has been conjecturally assigned, continued to be the basis of the Roman law of treason until the latest period of the See also:empire, and is still, with the law of perduellio, the basis of the law of See also:British See also:South See also:Africa as to treason. The See also:original See also:text of the law appears to have still dealt with what were chiefly military offences, such as sending letters or messages to the enemy, giving up a See also:standard or fortress, and See also:desertion. With the empire the law of majestas received an enormous development, mainly in the reign of Tiberius, and led to the rise of a class of professional informers, called delatores.3 The conception of the See also:emperor as divine' had much to do with this. It became a See also:maxim that treason was next to See also:sacrilege 5 in gravity.

The law as it existed in the time of Justinian is contained chiefly in the titles of the See also:

Digest 6 and Coder " Ad legem Juliam majestatis." The definition given in the Digest (taken from See also:Ulpian) is this: " majestatis crimes illud est quod adversus populum Romanum vel adversus securitatem ejus committitur." Of treasons other than military offences, some of the more noticeable were the raising of an army or levying See also:war without the command of the emperor, the questioning of the emperor's choice of a successor, the See also:murder of (or See also:conspiracy to murder) hostages or certain magistrates of high See also:rank, the occupation of public places, the See also:meeting within the See also:city of persons hostile to the state with weapons or stones, incitement to See also:sedition or See also:administration of unlawful oaths, See also:release of prisoners justly confined, falsification of public documents, and failure of a provincial See also:governor to quit his See also:province at the expiration of his See also:office or to deliver his army to his successor. The intention (voluntas) was punishable as much as an overt act (effectus).6 The reported opinions, as to what was not treason 2 Esprit See also:des lois, bk. xii. c. 7. s See See also:Merivale, History of the See also:Romans under the Empire, iii. 467, V. 141. " Principes instar deorum ease " are the words of See also:Tacitus. ' This crime was called laesa majestas divina in later law. 6 xlviii. 4. ix. 8.

s A similar provision was contained in the See also:

Golden See also:Bull of See also:Charles IV. C. 24. In See also:English law, with the one exception of a See also:statute of 1397 (21 Ric. II. c. 3) repealed in the first See also:year of Henry IV., show the lengths to which the theory of treason was carried. It was not treason to repair a statue of the emperor which had decayed from See also:age, to See also:hit such a statue with a See also:stone thrown by See also:chance, to melt down such a statue if unconsecrated, to use See also:mere verbal insults against the emperor, to fail in keeping an See also:oath sworn by the emperor or to decide a See also:case contrary to an imperial constitution. Treason was one of the publica judicia, i.e. one of those crimes in which any citizen was entitled to prosecute. The law deprived the accused in a See also:charge of treason of his See also:ordinary remedy for malicious See also:prosecution, and also took from him the See also:privilege (which those accused of other crimes generally possessed) of See also:immunity from See also:accusation by See also:women or infamous persons, from liability to be put to the See also:torture, and from having his slaves tortured to make them testify against him (see TORTURE). The punishment from the time of Tiberius was death (usually by See also:beheading)' and See also:confiscation of See also:property, coupled with See also:complete See also:civil See also:disability. A traitor could not make a will or a See also:gift or emancipate a slave. Even the death of the accused, if guilty of treason of the gravest See also:kind, such as levying war against the state, did not extinguish the charge, but the memory of the deceased became infamous, and his property was forfeited as though he had been convicted in his lifetime.

English Law.—The law of England as to treason corresponds to a considerable extent with Roman law; in fact, treason is treated by See also:

Blackstone as the See also:equivalent of the crimen laesae majestatis. The history of the crime in the two systems agrees in this that in both the law was settled by legislation at a comparatively early period, and subsequently See also:developed by judicial construction. In both, too, there were exceptional features distinguishing this crime from other offences? For instance, at See also:common law treason was not bailable (except by the See also:king's See also:bench) nor clergyable, could not be cleared by See also:sanctuary, and did not admit of accessories before or after the fact, for all were principals, nor could a married woman plead See also:coercion by her See also:husband. To stand See also:mute and refuse to plead did not See also:save the lands of the accused, as it did in See also:felony, so that the See also:peine forte et dure (see TORTURE) was unnecessary in treason. These severities were due to the conception of treason as a See also:breach of the oath of See also:allegiance. Other differences introduced by statute will be mentioned later. In some cases a statute simply affirmed the common law, as did the Treason Act 1351 to a See also:great extent, and as did an act of 1534, depriving those accused of treason of the benefit of sanctuary. How far the Roman law was consciously imitated in England it is impossible to determine. It was certainly not adopted to its full extent, for many acts were majestas which were never high treason, even in the most despotic periods. Treason was the subject of legislation in many of the pre-See also:Conquest codes. The See also:laws of See also:Alfred? and lEthelred 4 punished with death any one plotting against the See also:life of the king.

The Leges Henrici Primi "' put anyone slaying the king's messenger in the king's See also:

mercy. The crime was shortly defined by See also:Glanvill, 6 and at a greater length by See also:Britton, 7 and by See also:Bracton,3 who follows Roman law closely. The offence of high treason was not precisely defined by the common law (I See also:Hale, 76), and until the passing of the Treason Act 1351 depended much on the opinions of the king and his See also:judges. That statute appears to be the See also:answer to a See also:petition of the See also:Commons in 1348 (I Hale, 87), praying for a definition of the offence of accroaching royal power, a charge on which several persons—notably See also:Gaveston and the Despensers—had suffered. The offences made high treason by the statute which still remain an overt act has always been necessary. The difficulty of proving a mere intention is obvious. In See also:French and See also:German law the overt act (Attentat or Unternehmen) is as indispensable as in English. 1 To See also:harbour a fugitive enemy was punishable only by See also:deportation, Dig., xlviii. 19, 40. 2 The position of treason as a special crime prosecuted by special procedure is one common to most legal systems at some period of their existence. For instance, in See also:Germany, by a constitution of Henry VII. the procedure was to be See also:summary, sine strepitu et figure judicii. ' c.

4. 4 v. 30. 6 lxxix. 2. 9 xiv. 7 CC. 20, 21, 22. 8 de See also:

Corona I18b.are these: (1) to See also:compass or imaging the death of the king,le the See also:queen or their eldest son and See also:heir; (2) to violate the king's See also:companion, or his eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of his eldest son and heir; (3) to See also:levy war against the king in his See also:realm, or be adherent to the king's enemies in his realm, giving them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere (perduellio); (4) to slay the See also:chancellor, treasurer, or the king's justices of the one bench or the other, justices in See also:eyre, or justices of See also:assize, and all other justices assigned to hear and determine, being in their places doing their offices. In all cases of treason not specified in the statute the justices before whom the case came are to tarry without going to See also:judgment until the cause has been showed and declared before the king and his See also:parliament whether it ought to be judged treason or felony. The statute, so far as it defines the offence of high treason, is still law. The statute also treated as high treason See also:forgery of the great or privy See also:seal, See also:counterfeiting the king's See also:coin and importing counterfeits thereof.

These offences are now felonies. It also defined See also:

petty treason (now merged in wilful murder) as the slaying of a See also:master by his servant, a husband by his wife, or a See also:prelate by a See also:man See also:secular or religious owing him allegiance. The act of 1351 protects only the king's life, and its insufficiency was supplemented in periods of danger by legislation, often of a temporary nature. Under See also:Richard II. many new offences were made treason," but the acts creating these new treasons were repealed at the earliest opportunity by the parliaments of his successors. The reign most prolific in statutory additions to the law of treason was that of Henry VIII. Legislation in this reign was little more than a See also:register of the fluctuating opinions of the monarch. Thus, by one act of 1534 it was treason not to believe See also:Mary illegitimate and See also:Elizabeth legitimate; by another act of 1536 it was treason to believe either legitimate; by an act of 1543 it was treason not to believe both legitimate. Another act of this reign (1545) shows that a class of men like the Roman delatores must have been called into existence by all the new legislation. The act made it felony to make See also:anonymous charges of treason without daring to appear in support of them before the king or See also:council. These acts were repealed in 1553 (I See also:Mar. st. 1. c. r. s. I.) and the act of 1351 was made the standard of the offence.

Besides the acts of 1351 and 1553 the following statutes are still in force with respect to the substantive law of treason. By an obscurely penned statute of 1495 (II See also:

Hen. VII. c. 1. s. I) persons serving the king for the time being in war are not to be convicted or attainted of treason; see Steph., Dig. Cr. Law (6th ed.), See also:article 56. This statute has been held not to apply in British South Africa. By an act of 1571 (13 Eliz. c. 2) as a counterblast to papal attacks on the right of Elizabeth to the English See also:crown, it was declared that persons using in England papal bulls offering See also:absolution and reconciliation to persons forsaking their due obedience to the English crown should be punishable as traitors. The penalties were abolished in 1846, but the acts against which the statute was aimed were declared to be still unlawful (see Steph., Dig. Cr.

Law, 6th ed., p. 45n.). By an act of 1702 (I See also:

Anne st. 2. c. 21 s. 3) it is treason to endeavour to hinder the next successor to the crown from succeeding, and by the See also:Succession to the Crown Act 1707 it is treason maliciously, advisedly and directly by See also:writing or See also:printing to maintain and affirm that any See also:person has a right to the crown otherwise than according to the Acts of See also:Settlement and See also:Union, or that the crown and parliament cannot pass statutes for the See also:limitation of the succession to the crown. By an act of 1796, made perpetual in 1817, the definition of treason is extended so as to include plots within or without Great See also:Britain to cause the death or destruction, or any bodily harm tending to the death, destruction, See also:maiming, or wounding, imprisonment or See also:restraint of the king, if such plots are expressed by See also:publishing any printing or writing, or by any overt act or See also:deed. Since that date no new forms of treason have been created. There are many in-stances of offences temporarily made treason at different times. A 9 These words, according to Lucien (Law Tracts, See also:note ad fin.), mean to See also:attempt or contrive. a This by act of 1553 includes a queen regnant. n One See also:reason for making offences treason rather than felony was no doubt to give the Crown rather than the See also:lord of the See also:fee the right to the real See also:estate of the criminal on See also:forfeiture.

Had the offences been felony the king would have had only his year, See also:

day and See also:waste on the estate escheating to the lord, as was the case in treason before the Statute of Treasons. few of the more interesting may be briefly noticed. It was treason to attempt to See also:appeal or annul judgments made by parliament against certain traitors (1398) ; to break a truce or safe-conduct (1414-1450) ; to hold castles, fortresses or munitions of war against the king (1552); to adhere to the See also:United Provinces (1665); to return without See also:licence if an adherent of the Pretender (1696) ; to correspond with the Pretender (1701); and to compass or imagine the death of the See also:prince See also:regent (1817). In addition to these, many acts of See also:attainder were passed at different times. One of the most severe was that against See also:Catherine See also:Howard (1541), which went as far as to make it treasonable for any queen to conceal her ante-nuptial incontinence. Other acts were those against See also:Archbishop See also:Scrope, See also:Owen See also:Glendower, See also:Jack See also:Cade, Lord See also:Seymour, See also:Sir See also:John See also:Fenwick, See also:James See also:Stuart and See also:Bishop See also:Atterbury. In one case, that of See also:Cromwell, See also:Ireton and See also:Bradshaw, an act of attainder was passed after the death of those guilty of the treason (1660), and their bodies were exhumed, beheaded and exposed. Acts of See also:indemnity were passed to relieve those who had taken See also:part in the suppression of See also:rebellion from any possible liability for illegal proceedings. Three such acts were passed in the reign of See also:William III. (1689-169o). Similar acts were passed after the Irish rebellion of 1798. The punishment of treason at common law was barbarous in the extreme.' The See also:sentence in the case of a man was that the Punish- offender be See also:drawn on a See also:hurdle to the place of execumeat. tion, that there he be hanged by the See also:neck but not till he be dead, and that while yet alive he be disembowelled and that then his See also:body be divided into four quarters, the head and quarters to be at the disposal of the Crown.' Until 1790 at common law a woman was drawn to the place of See also:execution and there burned.

In that year See also:

hanging was substituted for burning in the case of See also:female traitors. In 1814 the part of the sentence See also:relating to hanging and to disembowelling was altered to hanging until death supervened. See also:Drawing and beheading and quartering after hanging were abolished in 1870. There is no legislation authorizing the execution of traitors within the walls of a See also:prison as in the case of murder (see CAPITAL PUNISHMENT). The act of 1814 in the case of men enables the Crown, by See also:warrant under the sign See also:manual, countersigned by a secretary of state, to See also:change the sentence to beheading. Attainder and forfeiture for treason are abolished by the Forfeitures Act 187o, except where the offender has been outlawed.' The maximum See also:penalty for a felony under the act of 1848 is penal See also:servitude for life. In every See also:pardon of treason the offence is to be particularly specified therein (see PARDON). Trials for treason in Great Britain and See also:Ireland were at one time frequent and occupy a large part of the numerous volumes of the State Trials. Some of the more interesting may be mentioned. Before the Statute of Treasons were those of Gaveston and the Despensers in the reign of See also:Edward II. on charges of accroaching the royal power. After the statute were those (some before the peers by trial or See also:impeachment, most before the ordinary criminal courts) of See also:Empson and See also:Dudley, See also:Fisher, More, the See also:earl of See also:Surrey, the See also:duke of See also:Somerset, Anne See also:Boleyn, See also:Lady Jane See also:Grey, Sir See also:Thomas See also:Wyatt, See also:Cranmer, the queen of Scots, Sir See also:Walter See also:Raleigh,See also:Strafford, See also:Laud, Sir Henry See also:Vane and other regicides, William Lord See also:Russell, Algernon See also:Sydney, the duke of See also:Monmouth, and those implicated in the See also:Pilgrimage of See also:Grace, the See also:Gunpowder, Popish, See also:Rye See also:House and other plots. Cases where the proceeding was by See also:bill of attainder have been already mentioned.

Occasionally the result of a trial was confirmed by statute. In some of these trials, as is well known, the law was considerably strained in See also:

order to insure a conviction. Since the Revolution there have been the cases of those who took part in the risings of 1715 and 1745, Lord See also:George See also:Gordon in 178o, Thomas See also:Hardy and See also:Horne See also:Tooke in 1794, the See also:Cato See also:Street conspirators in 182o, Thomas See also:Frost in I84o, See also:Smith O'Brien in 1848, and in 1903 See also:Arthur See also:Lynch, for adhering to, aiding and comforting the king's enemies in the South See also:African war.' The bulk of the treason 1 The exceptional See also:character of the punishment, like that of the procedure, may be paralleled from Germany. The punishment of traitors by See also:Frederick II. by wrapping them in See also:lead and throwing them into a See also:furnace is alluded to by See also:Dante, Inferno, See also:xxiii. 66. 2 See the sentence in full in Latin in R. v. Walcot, 1696, I Eng. See also:Rep. 87. ' Proceedings after the death of an alleged traitor See also:night at one time have been taken, but only to a very limited extent as compared with what was allowed in Roman and Scots law. See also:Coke (4 Rep. 57) states that there might have been forfeiture of the See also:land or goods of one slain in rebellion on view of the body by the lord See also:chief See also:justice of England as supreme See also:coroner.

1903, I K.B. 446. He was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. Lynch was released on licence after one year in prison and has since been pardoned. See also:

xxvii. 8trials are reported in See also:Howell's State Trials and the New See also:Series of State Trials. The statute of 1351 as interpreted by the judges in these cases is still the standard by which an act is determined to be treason or not. The judicial See also:interpretation has been sometimes strained to meet cases scarcely within the contemplation of the framers of the statute. e.g. it became established See also:doctrine that a conspiracy to levy war against the king's person or to imprison or depose him might be given in See also:evidence as an overt act of compassing his death, and that spoken words, though they could not in themselves amount to treason, might constitute an overt act, and so be evidence. Besides decisions on particular cases, the judges at different times came to general resolutions which had an appreciable effect on the law. The See also:principal resolutions were those of 1397 (confirmed 1398), of 1557, and those agreed to in the case of the regicides at the Restoration and reported by Sir John Kelyng. The effect of this legislation, according to Sir James See also:Stephen, is that such of the judicial constructions as extend the imagining of the king's death to imagining his death, destruction or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim or wounding, imprisonment or restraint, have been adopted, while such of the constructions as make the imagining of his deposition, conspiring to levy war against him, and instigating foreigners to invade the realm, have not been abolished, but are left to See also:rest on the authority of decided cases.

The legislation in force in 1878 as to treason and kindred offences was collected by the See also:

late Mr R. S. See also:Wright and its substance embodied in a draft consolidation bill (Parl. Pap. 1878 H. L. 178), and in 1879 the existing law was incorporated in the draft criminal codes of 1879. The See also:code draws a distinction between treason and treasonable crimes, the former including such acts (omitting those that are obviously obsolete) as by the Treason Act 1351 and subsequent legislation are regarded as treason proper, the latter including the crimes contained in the Treason Felony Act 1848. In the words of the draft (§ 76) " treason is (a) the act of killing Her See also:Majesty, or doing her any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim or wounding, and the act of imprisoning or re-straining her; or (b) the forming and manifesting by an overt act an intention to kill Her Majesty, or to do her any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim or wounding, or to imprison or to restrain her; or (c) the act of killing the eldest son and heir-apparent of Her Majesty, or the queen See also:consort of any king of the United See also:Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; or (d) the forming and manifesting by an overt act an intention to kill the eldest son and heir apparent of Her Majesty, or the queen consort of any king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; or (e) conspiring with any person to kill Her Majesty, or to do her any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim or wounding, or conspiring with any person to imprison or restrain her; or (f) levying war against Her Majesty either with See also:intent to depose Her Majesty from the See also:style, See also:honour and royal name of the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or of any other of Her Majesty's dominions or countries; or in order by force or constraint to compel Her Majesty to change her See also:measures or counsels, or in order to intimidate or over-See also:awe both Houses or either House of Parliament; or (g) conspiring to levy war against Her Majesty with any such intent or for any such purpose as aforesaid; or (h) instigating any foreigner with force to invade this realm or any other of the dominions of Her Majesty; or (i) assisting any public enemy at war with Her Majesty in such war by any means whatsoever; or (j) violating, whether with her consent or not, a queen consort, or the wife of the eldest son and heir-apparent for the time being of the king or queen regnant." No amount of See also:residence abroad exempts a British subject from the penalty of treason if he bears arms against the king,' unless he has become naturalized as the subject of a See also:foreign state before the outbreak of the war in which he bears arms. To become naturalized as the subject of an enemy during a war is in itself an act of treason. It is well established that an See also:alien See also:resident within British territory owes See also:local allegiance to the Crown and may be indicted for high treason, and there are numerous instances of prosecution of foreigners for treason. Such are the cases of See also:Leslie, bishop of See also:Ross, See also:ambassador to Elizabeth from the queen of Scots (1584), the See also:marquis de Guiscard in Queen Anne's reign and Gyllenborg, the ambassador from See also:Sweden to George I.

(1717). Proceedings against ambassadors for treason have never gone beyond imprisonment, more for safe custody than as a punishment. In 1781 La Motte, a Frenchman resident in England, was convicted of holding treasonable communications with See also:

France, and in See also:Canada See also:American citizens were tried for treason for aiding in the rebellion of 1837-1838 (Forsyth, 200). Assistance by a resident alien to invaders of British territory is high treason even if the territory in question is in military occupation by the forces of the foreign power.' Of the modes of trying high treason two are obsolete, viz. (I) by appeal in the common law courts, which ceased by Court and the effect of statutes between 1322 and 1399 and Place of were finally abolished in 1819; (2) before the See also:con- Trial. See also:stable and See also:marshal. 'The last instance of this mode of trial was an s See also:Aeneas See also:Macdonald's case, 18 St. Tr. 857; R. v. Lynch (1903) I K.B. 446—see See also:Mayne, Ind. Cr. Law (1896), pp.

459, 460. e De See also:

Jager's case (1907) App. Cas. 326. li See also:award of See also:battle in 1631 in the case of Lord Reay.' Four modes of trying high treason still remain, viz. impeachment, trial of a peer by his peers, trial by court-See also:martial and trial by See also:jury on See also:indictment before the High Court or a court of assize or a special See also:commission. The offence is not triable at See also:quarter sessions. At common law and under the Great See also:Charter a peer, and, by an act of 1442, a peeress in right of her husband, are triable for treason before the House of Lords, or, when parliament is not sitting, in the court of the lord high steward. The last trial of a peer for treason was that of Lord See also:Lovat in 1746–1747 (18 Howell's St. Tr. 529). In the reign of Edward IV., and perhaps later, treason was at times tried by martial law. The issue of commissions of martial law in time of See also:peace was in 1628 declared illegal by the Petition of Right. But the See also:prerogative of the Crown to See also:deal by martial law with traitors in time of war or open rebellion within the realm or in a British See also:possession still exists.' Treasons committed within the See also:admiralty See also:jurisdiction or out of the realm were originally triable only by the See also:admiral or the See also:constable and marshal according to the civil law, but were made triable according to the courts of the common law by the Offences at See also:Sea Act 1536, and by acts of 1543, 1552' and 1797.

Provision is made for the trial in British possessions of treasons committed in the admiralty jurisdiction (Offences at Sea Act 1806). Treasons committed within the realm are tried in the High Court, the central criminal court or another court of assize, or by special commission, except in the case of peers. In two acts dealing with Ireland (of 1809 and 1833) it was provided that nothing in the acts was to take away the undoubted prerogative of the Crown for the public safety to resort to the exercise of martial law against open enemies and traitors, while actual war or insurrection is raging (see MARTIAL LAW).4 Treason by persons subject to military law is triable by court-martial under the Army Act (1881) ss. 4, 41 (a), where the offence cannot with reasonable convenience be tried in a civil court, and treason by persons subject to See also:

naval discipline by court-martial under the Naval Discipline Act (1866) s. 7. The procedure in such trials is regulated by the acts. In certain cases of treason the procedure on the trial is the same as upon a charge of murder. Those cases, which are statutory Procedure. exceptions from the statutory procedure prescribed for the trial of high treason and See also:misprision thereof, are: (a) Assassination or killing of the king, or any heir or successor of the king, or any See also:direct attempt against his life or any direct attempt against his person whereby his life may be endangered or his person may suffer bodily harm (1800, 1814); (b) attempts to injure in any manner the person of the king (1842). In all other cases of treason the procedure is regulated by acts of 1695, 1708 and 1825. A copy of the indictment must be delivered to the accused ten days at least before his See also:arraignment, with a See also:list of the witnesses for the prosecution (1708) and a list of the petty jury, except in the High Court, where the petty jury list is to be delivered ten days before the trial (1825).5 The accused is entitled to be defended by counsel, and on application to the court may have two counsel assigned to him (1695), a right extended in 1746 to impeachments for treason. Witnesses for the See also:defence have. since 1702 been examinable upon oath. The accused may by the Criminal Evidence Act 1898 consent to be called as See also:witness for the defence.

It is doubtful whether the wife or husband of the accused is a compellable witness for the Crown (Archb. Grim. See also:

Pleading, 23rd ed., 398). Prosecutions for treason must be begun within three years of the offence, except in cases of attempts to assassinate the king. The rules as to the indictment are stricter than in the case of felony and See also:misdemeanour, much of the modern statutory power of See also:amendment not extending to indictments for the graver offence. No evidence may be given of any overt act (See also:vote de fait) not expressly stated in the indictment. The accused is entitled to See also:peremptory See also:challenge of See also:thirty-five of the jurors summoned for the petty jury; but they need not now be freeholders. The accused can be convicted only on his own See also:confession in open court, or by the oath of two witnesses either both to the same overt act charged, or one to one overt act and the other to another overt act of the same treason. If two or more treasons of different kinds are charged on the same indictment, one witness to prove one treason and another to prove another are not sufficient for a lawful conviction. Persons charged with treason are not admitted to See also:bail except by order of a secretary of state or by the High Court (k.b.d.) or a See also:judge thereof in vacation (Indictable Offences Act 1848, s. 23). Witnesses for the defence are examined on oath and their attendance is secured in the same way as that of witnesses for the Crown (1695, 170).

' A case of treason out of the realm as to whichalone the constable and marshal had jurisdiction (3 Howell's St. Tr.•1). 2 See case of D. F. Marais (1902, App. Cas. 109). ' There is no trace of recourse to the act of 1552. In 1903 Arthur Lynch was tried under the act of 1543 for high treason in South Africa, and Lord Maguire in 1645 for treason in Ireland (4 St. Tr. 653). The decisions of courts of martial law appear not to be See also:

review-able by ordinary civil courts (re Marais, 1907, App.

Cas. 109). 5In these respects persons accused of treason are in a better position than those accused of felony. Misprision of treason consists in the concealment or keeping See also:

secret of any high treason. (a) This offence was in 1552 declared to be high treason (5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. II, s. 8), but the former law was restored in 1553–1554 (I Mary st..i. c. I oftLason s.1 ;1 &2 Ph. and Mary c. 10, s.7). The definition is vague of Treason. and the exact See also:scope of the offence uncertain, but in strictness it does not include acts which in the case of felony would constitute an See also:accessory after the fact. In the See also:Queensland Code of 1899 (s.

38) every person is guilty of a crime who, knowing that any person intends to commit treason, does not give See also:

information thereof with all reasonable despatch to a justice or use other reasonable endeavours to prevent the commission of that crime. The procedure for the trial of misprision of treason is the same as in the case of high treason. The punishment is imprisonment for life and forfeiture of the offender's goods and of the profits of his lands during his life. (Steph. Dig. Cr. Law, 6th ed., 121, 401.) The forfeitures are not abolished by the Forfeitures Act 187o. There is no case of prosecution of this offence recorded during the last See also:century. The See also:necessity of prosecutions for treason has been greatly lessened by a series of statutes beginning in 1744 which provide for the punishment as felonies of certain acts which Offences might fall within the definition of treason, e.g. akin to piracies (1744, 18 Geo. II. c. 30), incitement to Treason. See also:mutiny (1797), unlawful oaths, including oaths to commit treason (1797, 1812), and aiding the See also:escape of prisoners of war (1812).

By the Treason Act 1842 it is a high misdemeanour, punishable by penal servitude for seven years, wilfully to See also:

discharge, point, aim or See also:present at the person of the king any See also:gun or other arms, loaded or not, or to strike at OT attempt to throw anything upon the king's person, or to produce any firearms or other arms, or any explosive or dangerous See also:matter, near his person, with intent to injure or alarm him or to commit a breach of the peace.6 The offence is one of the few for which flogging may be awarded. By the Treason Felony Act 1848, s. 1., it was made a felony within or without the United Kingdom to See also:plot (a) to deprive or depose the king from the style, &c., of the imperial crown of the United Kingdom, (b) to levy war against the king in any part of the United Kingdom in order by force or constraint to change his measures or counsels or to put force or constraint on or to intimidate or overawe either or both houses of parliament, (c) to move or stir any foreigner with force to invade the United Kingdom or any of the king's dominions. The plot to be within the act must be expressed by publishing in printing or writing or by an overt act or deed. " Open and advised speaking," originally included as an alternative, was removed from the act in 1891. For other offences more or less nearly connected with treason reference may be made to the articles: See also:LIBEL; OATHS; PETITION; See also:RIOT; SEDITION. The act of 1848 does not abrogate the Treason Act of 1351, but merely provides an alternative remedy. But with the exception of the case of Lynch in 1903, all prosecutions in England for offences of a treasonable character since 1848 have been for the felony created by the act of 1848. The trials under the act, mostly in Ireland, are collected in 'vols. 6, 7 and 8 of the New Series of State Trials. The procedure in the case of all the offences just noticed is governed by the ordinary rules as to the trial of indictable offences, and the accused may be convicted even though the evidence proves acts constituting high treason. See also:Scotland.—Treason included treason proper, or crimes against the Crown or the state, such as rebellion, and crimes which, though not technically treasonable, were by legislation punished as treason.

Scottish procedure was as a See also:

rule less favourable to the accused than English. In one matter, however, the opposite was the case. See also:Advocates compellable to act on behalf of the accused were allowed him by 1587, c. 57, more than a century before the concession of a similar See also:indulgence in England. At one time trial in See also:absence and even after death was allowed, as in Roman law. In the case of See also:Robert Leslie, in 1540, a See also:summons after death was held by the estates to be competent, and the bones of the deceased were exhumed and presented at the See also:bar of the court? The act of 1542, c. 13 (rep. 1906), confined this revolting procedure to certain treasons of the more heinous kind. s This act was passed in consequence of a series of assaults on Queen See also:Victoria. See 4 St. Tr.

N. S. 1382; 7 St. Tr. N. S. 1130, and 8 St. Tr. N. S. I. ' In the one instance in England—that of Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw—where the bodies of alleged traitors were exhumed after death they were not brought to the bar of a court as in Scotland.

By the Treason Act 1708 trial in absence—the last instance of which had occurred in 1698—was abolished. The same act assimilates the law and practice of treason to that of England by enacting that no crime should be treason or misprision in Scotland but such as is treason or misprision in England. The act further provides for the finding of the indictment by a See also:

grand jury as in England and that the trial is to be by a jury of twelve, not fifteen as in other crimes, before the court of See also:justiciary, or a commission of oyer and terminer containing at least three lords of justiciary. To slay a lord of justiciary or lord of session sitting in judgment, or to counterfeit the great seal, is made treason. The act also contains provisions as to forfeiture, l qualification of jurors and procedure, which are not affected by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1887. The punishment is the same as it was in England before the Forfeitures Act 187o, which does not extend to Scotland; and attainder and forfeiture are still the effects of condemnation for treason in Scotland. One or two other statutory provisions may be briefly noticed. By acts of 1706 and 1825 the trial of a peer of Great Britain or Scotland for treason committed in Scotland is to be by a commission from the Crown, on indictment found by a grand jury of twelve. Bail in treason-felony is only allowed by consent of the public prosecutor or warrant of the high or See also:circuit court of justiciary (Treason Felony Act 1848, s. 9). The term lese-majesty was some-times used for what was treason proper (e.g. in 1524, c. 4, making it lese-majesty to transport the king out of the realm, repealed in 1906), sometimes as a synonym of leasing-making.

This crime (also called verbal sedition) consisted in the engendering discord between king and See also:

people by See also:slander of the king.' The earliest act against leasing-making eo nomine was in 1524. The reign of James VI. was pre-eminently prolific in legislation against this crime. It is now of no See also:practical See also:interest, as prosecutions for leasing-making have See also:long fallen into desuetude. At one time, however, the See also:powers of the various acts were put into force with great severity, especially in the trial of the earl of See also:Argyll in 1681. The punishment for leasing-making, once capital, is now, by acts of 1825 and 1837, See also:fine or imprisonment or both. Ireland.—The Treason Act 1351 was extended to Ireland by Poyning's law, but at the union there were considerable differences between the Irish and the English law. The law and practice of Ireland as to treason were assimilated to those of England by acts of 1821 (1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 24), 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. C. 51), 1848 (I1 & 12 Vict. C.

12, s. 2), and 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 56). See also:

Prior to 1854 the provisions as to procedure in the English treason acts did not apply to Ireland (Smith O'Brien's case, 1848, 7 St. Tr. N. S. I). A series of enactments called the " Whiteboy Acts" (passed by the Irish and the United Kingdom parliaments between 1775 and 1831) was intended to give additional facilities to the executive for the suppression of tumultuous risings, and powers for dealing with " dangerous associations" are given by the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887. Prosecutions for treason in Ireland were numerous in 1848. Since that date numerous prosecutions have taken place under the Treason Felony Act 1848.

British Possessions.—Numerous temporary acts were passed in See also:

India at the time of the Mutiny, one of the most characteristic being an act of 1858 making rebellious villages liable to confiscation. By the See also:Indian Penal Code, s. 121, it is an offence punishable by death or transportation for life and by forfeiture of all property to wage or attempt to wage war against the king. By s. 125 it is an offence punishable by transportation for life (as a maximum) to wage or attempt to wage war against any See also:Asiatic government in See also:alliance or at peace with the king or to abet the waging of such war. By s. 121 A., added in 1870, it is an offence punishable by transportation for life (as a maximum) to conspire within or without British India to commit an offence against s. 121 or to deprive the king of the See also:sovereignty of British India or of any part thereof, or to overawe by criminal force or the show of criminal force the government of India or any local government in India. Other cognate offences are included in the same See also:chapter (vi.) of the Criminal Code. The Penal Codes of Canada (1892, ss. 65–73) and New See also:Zealand (1893, ss. 77–82) closely follow the provisions of the '.English draft code of 1879.

Prosecutions for treason have been rare in Canada. Those of most note were in 1837, after the rebellion (see the See also:

Canadian Prisoners case, 1839, 9 Ad(olphus) El(See also:les) 1731j) and of See also:Riel after 1 The provisions in the act as to forfeiture (now repealed) were, according to Blackstone (See also:Comm. iv. 384), the result of a See also:compromise between the House of Lords, In favour of its continuance and the House of Commons, supported by the Scottish nation, struggling to secure a See also:total immunity from this disability. ' It is called by See also:Hallam " the old See also:mystery of iniquity in Scots law."the Red See also:River rising in 1884 (see Riel v. R. 1885, to App. Cas. 675). The See also:Commonwealth parliament of See also:Australia has not legislated on the subject of high treason, which is in Australia governed by the laws of the constituent states, i.e. by the law of England as it stood when they were colonized, subject to local legislation. In the codes of Queensland (1899) and See also:West Australia (1902) the offence is defined in a See also:form which is little more than a redrafting of the English statutes. The provisions of the Treason Felony Act 1848 have been adapted by legislation to New South See also:Wales (1900), Queensland (1899), Western Australia (1902) and See also:Tasmania (1868). In Victoria there is legislation as to procedure but none as to the substantive law of treason.

In See also:

Mauritius the offence is regulated by the Penal Code of 1838, arts. 50–61 (Mauritius Laws Revised, 1903, i. 372). In the Asiatic colonies treason is defined on the lines of the Indian Penal Code, i.e. See also:Ceylon, Straits Settlements, and Hong-See also:Kong. In the West Indies the law of treason is defined by code in See also:Jamaica and in British See also:Guiana (the code superseding the Dutch Roman law). In South Africa the law of treason is derived through See also:Holland from the Roman law. It includes the crimen perduellionis, i.e. disturbing the See also:security or See also:independence of the state with hostile intent. This is spoken of as high treason, as distinct from the crimen laesae majestatis, in which the hostile intent need not be proved, and from vis publica, i.e. insurrection and riot involving danger to public peace and order. By a Cape law of 1853 passed during the Griqualand rebellion it is made treason to deliver arms or gunpowder to the king's enemies. The Treason Felony Act 1848 was also adopted in See also:Natal in 1868. During the South African War of 1899–1902 many trials took place for treason, chiefly under martial law, including cases of British subjects who had joined the See also:Boer forces.

In some cases it was contended that the accused had been recognized by the British authorities as a belligerent (Louw. 1904, 21 Cape Supreme Court Reports, 36). The decisions of the ordinary courts are collected in Nathan, Common Law of South Africa, iv. 2425 (See also:

London, 1907). The decisions of courts-martial were not reviewable by the ordinary courts and are also protected by acts of indemnity. A striking feature of colonial legislation is the great number of such acts passed after rebellions and native risings. Instances of such acts occur in the legislation of Canada, Ceylon, the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope, Natal, New Zealand, St See also:Vincent and Jamaica. The most important in the history of ?aw is the Jamaica Act of 1866, indemnifying Governor Eyre for any acts committed during the suppression of the rising in the previous year. It was finally held that this act protected Eyre from being civilly sued or criminally prosecuted in England for acts done during the outbreak (See also:Phillips v. Eyre, 1871, L. R. 6 Q.

B. I). The validity of an act passed in 1906 after disturbances among the See also:

Kaffirs of Natal was unsuccessfully challenged in 1907 (Tilonko's case, 1907, App. Cas. 93). United States.—The law is based upon that of England. By See also:art. 3, s. 3 of the constitution " treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. The See also:Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall See also:work corruption of See also:blood or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted." By art. 2, s.

4 impeachment for and conviction of treason is a ground for removing the See also:

president, See also:vice-president and other civil See also:officers. The punishment by an act of 1790 was declared to be death by hanging. But during the Civil War an act (See also:July 17, 1862) was passed, providing that the punishment should be death, or, at the discretion of the court, imprisonment at hard labour for not less than five years, and a fine of not less than so,00o dollars to be levied on the real and See also:personal property of the offender, in addition to disability to hold any office under the United States. The act of 1862 and other acts also deal with the crimes of inciting or engaging in rebellion or insurrection, criminal See also:correspondence with foreign governments in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the government of the United States, seditions, conspiracy, recruiting soldiers or sailors and enlistment to serve against the United States. The act of 1790 further provides for the delivery to the prisoner of a copy of the indictment and a list of the jurors, for defence by counsel, and for the finding of the indictment within three years after the commission of the treason (see See also:Story, Constitution of the United States, Rev. Stat. U.S. p. 1041). Treason against the United States cannot be inquired into by any st3ta court, but the states may, and some of them have, their own constitutions and legislation as to treasons committed against themselves, generally following the lines of the constitution and legislation of the United States. In some cases there are differences which are See also:worth See also:notice. Thus the constitution of See also:Massachusetts, pt. 1, § 25, declares that no subject ought in any case or in any time to be declared guilty of treason by the legislature.

The same provision is contained in the constitutions of See also:

Vermont, See also:Connecticut, See also:Pennsylvania, See also:Alabama and others. In some states the crime of treason cannot be pardoned; in others, as in New See also:York, it may be pardoned by the legislature, and the governor may suspend the sentence until the end of the session of the legislature next following conviction. In some states a person convicted of treason is disqualified for exercising the See also:franchise. In New York conviction carries with it forfeiture of real estate for the life of the convict and of his goods and chattels. France.—By the Code Penal treason falls under the head of crimes against the safety of the state (bk. iii. tit. i. c. 1). It is a capital offence for a Frenchman to See also:bear arms against France (s. 75) or to plot with a foreign power or its agents to commit hostilities or under-take war against France whether war follows or not (s. 76), or to intrigue with the enemies of the state for facilitating their entry into French territory, or to deliver to them French See also:ships or fortresses, or to See also:supply them with munitions of war, or aid the progress of their arms in French possessions or against French forces by sea or land (s.G78) . ermany.—The Strafgesetzbuch distinguishes between high treason (Hochverrat) and treason (Landesverrat). The offences denominated high treason are (1) murder or attempt to murder the emperor or a federal sovereign in his own state, or during the stay of the offender in the sovereign's state (s.8o) ; (2) undertaking to kill, take prisoner, or deliver into an enemy's power, or make incapable of government a federal sovereign ; to change by violence the constitution of the empire or a state thereof or the successor to the See also:throne therein; to incorporate by force the federal territory or the territory of any such state with a foreign or another federal state (s. 81).

The code treats as treason, but does not punish by death, the offences included in the French code (ss. 87-89), and under certain circumstances punishes alien residents for these offences (s. 91). The code also punishes insults on the emperor and federal sovereigns (ss. 95, 97) under the name of Majestatsbeleidigung. See also:

Italy.—Treason in the Penal Code 1888 (tit. i. c. 1) includes direct acts to subject Italy or : ny part thereof to foreign domination or to diminish its independence or break up its unity (s. 104), to bear arms against the state (s. 105)) or intrigue with foreign states with the object of their levying war against Italy or helping them in such war (s. 106), or to reveal See also:political or military secrets affecting the See also:national independence (s. 107). See also:Spain.—The See also:Spanish code distinguishes between treason (lesa majestad) and rebellion (rebelion).

Under the former are included assassination, or attempts on the life or personal See also:

liberty of the king (arts. 158, 159), or insults to the king (161, 162), and provisions are made as to attacks on the heir or consort of the sovereign (163, 164). Under rebellion are included violent attempts to dethrone the king or to interfere with the allegiance to him of his forces or any part of the realm (243). (W. F.

End of Article: TREASON (Fr. trahison, Lat. traditio)

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