Treason Act 1790

United Kingdom legislation

England and Wales
Scotland

DatesRepealed30 September 1998^[2]Other legislationRepealed byCrime and Disorder Act 1998, section 36(3)(a) & 120(2) & Sch.10

Status: Repealed

Revised text of statute as amended

The Treason Act 1790 (30 Geo. 3. c. 48) was an Act of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain which abolished burning at the stake as the penalty for women convicted of high treason, petty treason and abetting, procuring or counselling petty treason, and replaced it with drawing and hanging.

Identical provision was made for Ireland by the Treason by Women Act (Ireland) 1796.

Section 1

The original penalty for high treason, petty treason or abetting counselling or procuring petty treason for women was to be drawn to the place of execution and burned to death. This was replaced, with effect from 5 June 1790, with drawing to the place of execution followed by hanging by section 1. The section was amended by the Forfeiture Act 1870 to abolish drawing.

Section 2

This section made provision for women convicted of petty treason to suffer additional punishments which were already provided for murder by the Murder Act 1751 (25 Geo. 2. c. 37), ss. 1 - 10. This included provision for the disposal of the body.

The repeal of this section for England and Wales on 1 July 1828 by section 1 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 was consequential on the abolition of petty treason by sections 1 and 2 of that Act.

Section 3

This section allowed the King to alter the sentence of any woman condemned to burning having been convicted of those offences prior to (the commencement of section 1 on) 5 June 1790. By warrant under the hand of one of the principal Secretaries of State, the King had the discretionary ("if he shall think proper") authority to order that the condemned woman be hanged in the execution of that judgement. This section was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1871.

Section 4

This section was a saving clause and provided that women convicted of those offences would still be liable to such forfeitures and corruption of blood as they would have been if they had been attainted of those offences before the passing of the Act.

This section was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1960.

Repeal

The Act was repealed when the death penalty for treason was abolished by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

References

^ This short title was conferred by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule.
^ S.I. 1998/2327, art. 2(1)(g) and (3)(a)

James Holbert Wilson (1853). Temple bar, the city Golgotha, by a member of the Inner Temple. p. 4.

External links

The Treason Act 1790 (at the time of its repeal in 1998), from the National Archives.

UK legislation

Pre-parliamentary legislation

Acts of parliaments of states preceding
the Kingdom of Great Britain

Parliament of England	1225–1267 1275–1307 1308–1325 Temp. incert. 1327–1376 1377–1397 1399–1411 1413–1421 1422–1460 1461 1463 1464 1467 1468 1472 1474 1477 1482 1483 1485–1503 1509–1535 1536 1539–1540 1541 1542 1543 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1551 1553 1554 1555 1557 1558–1575 1580 1584 1586 1588 1592 1597 1601 1603 1605 1606 1609 1620 1623 1625 1627 Petition of Right 1640 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1670 1672 1675 1677 1678 1679 Habeas Corpus Act 1680 1685 1688 1689 Bill of Rights 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706
Parliament of Scotland	to 1707

Parliament of England