Jump to content

Treason Act 1766

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Treason Act 1766
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for altering the Oath of Abjuration and the Assurance; and for amending so much of an Act of the Seventh Year of her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for the Improvement of the Union of the two Kingdoms, as, after the Time therein limited, requires the Delivery of certain Lists and Copies therein mentioned to Persons indicted of High Treason, or Misprision of Treason.
Citation6 Geo. 3. c. 53
Territorial extent 
Dates
Royal assent6 June 1766
Repealed15 June 1945
Other legislation
AmendsTreason Act 1708
Amended byPromissory Oaths Act 1871
Repealed byTreason Act 1945
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Treason Act 1766[1] (6 Geo. 3. c. 53) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The long title was "An Act for altering the Oath of Abjuration and the Assurance; and for amending so much of an Act of the Seventh Year of her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for the Improvement of the Union of the two Kingdoms, as, after the Time therein limited, requires the Delivery of certain Lists and Copies therein mentioned to Persons indicted of High Treason, or Misprision of Treason."

Sections 1 and 2 of the Act were concerned with the oath of abjuration. Section 3 of the Act disapplied certain procedural requirements in cases of high treason consisting of counterfeiting the king's coin; namely the requirement that the accused be given a list of the witnesses and the jurors.[2] (This requirement had only come into force in 1766, on the death of James Francis Edward Stuart, the Jacobite pretender to the throne.)

It was repealed on 15 June 1945.[3]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ This short title was conferred by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule.
  2. ^ Treason Act 1708, section XI
  3. ^ Treason Act 1945, section 2(1) and Schedule.