WHAT IS HIGH TREASON?
O War has, once more, drawn attention to the crime of High Treason — a^crime .the very recollection of which lias, in modern days, been apt ■- to slumber in time of peace. It is, of course, the last crime against the State —an offence for which there can 'be in theory, and there used to be in practice ; no forgiveness, and, though the hateful tortures which once accompanied the traitor's de.ath have been abolished, the law to this day invests a trial for treason with some special ceremonies which mark tho heinous nature of the offence. The very name ot! High Treason has an association of enormity; it was so called to confer upon it a bad eminence and to distinguish-it frpm other crimes so grievous as to demand, in the opinion of our forefathers, a penalty more terrible than mere hanging or beheading. "Petty treason" covered such of. fences as the murder of a lord \ry one o( 3iis own. serfs, the murder of a bishop by ona of his own clergy, or the murder of a husband by his own wife (but not, since the law was made by men, the murder of a wife by her own husband). For a long period the crime or treason was undeiincd, and uncertainty a^; to what constituted treason placed a terrible power in tl;e hands of judges who Hold their office at the pleasure of the, Crown. In England, a. definition was made by -n famous statute of .rJdward 111., which still governs our law on the subject. It is treason to compass or" imagine" the d;«ath of the Sovereign. The words quoted describe a mental act, oi; which some open or overt proof is necessary. Sometimes, unfortunately, such open acts have b&sn only too easy to prove. When th-a regicide* were tried after tho Restoration, the , execution of Charles I. was not tha charge against them; it was the proof of tho charge. [ The crime was an mtention to kill cue King; the execution merely proved thy intention. JBut 3 in other cases, there lias be-.m more ambiguity. l);d an intention to marry ikary, C'ueen of scots, then a prisoner in England, prove an intention to kill Elizabeth and place the Scottish Queen on the throne. 1' i-^ug-Ijsh judges, without, probably, any j gr.a-v,o injustice, decided that it did. Similarly, it has been held that sermons, which had never be-yn preached or printed, but which denounced the King as unworthy to rule, proved an intention against the"life of the mon- ! yi-ch. ! Extraordinary additions have, at various times, been made to Edward in.'s statue. In J">.'i4, it was High ' Treason to deny that Henry VIIT. was | lawfully married to Anne Boleyn ; two I years later, it was High Treason to r.s----j sort -Ifchat she had ever Koen lawfully i married to him. Under K!:;aiWc?th, it I was treason to say that any particular | person ought to succeed to the Crown — | an awkward position for any early sup- \ porter of the Divine Right of Kings. ; It is High Treason to levy war | against the King in his noalm or to be [ adherent to the King's alien enemies. i giving tli-em .aid and comfort in the i realm or elsewhere. This definition in- ; vo'veel a distinction botvroen a rebellion i-.ncl a riot, and it was lv Id that a reij'jli'on inusi ho connected with a publicgcTier^l grievance as opposed to a pi'iv;.tr o)' personal grievi'tice. Tlius, for exampV:l, tho Porteous .Mob were guilty of ;t riot, but could not l>c said to bo guilty of levyitv.' w.ar against tlie King. :t Lev/nig ivnr" is itst-lf :i vii;;uo term, !;iii: tlunv !irc plonty of' decisions to show that nili'stm" and niarching 't'.vi or seizing or holdiiv; a fort in onposition to th? royal authority is sufficion* proof <■( + Ji.. enre even if no actu.-i! buttle resulted.
WHAT IS HIGH TREASON?
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXI, Issue 16690, 21 July 1916, Page 3
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