Treason Act 1702

The Treason Act 1702[1] (1 Anne Stat. 2 c. 21[2]) is an Act of the Parliament of England, passed to enforce the line of succession to the English throne (today the British throne), previously established by the Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701.

Treason Act 1702
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long titleAn Act for enlarging the Time for taking the Oath of Abjuration; and also for re-capacitating and indemnifying such Persons as have not taken the same by the Time limited, and shall take the same by a Time to be appointed; and for the further Security of Her Majesty's Person, and the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant Line; and for extinguishing the Hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales, and all other Pretenders, and their open and secret Abettors.
Citation1 Ann. St. 2. c. 21 (Ruffhead c. 17)
Territorial extent Kingdom of England (inc. Wales); extended to Scotland in 1708
Dates
Royal assent27 February 1703
Status: Current legislation
Revised text of statute as amended

The Act makes it treason to "endeavour to deprive or hinder any person who shall be the next in succession to the crown for the time being ... from succeeding after the decease of her Majesty (whom God long preserve) to the imperial crown of this realm and the dominions and territories thereunto belonging".

Originally a capital offence, the penalty was reduced in 1998 to life imprisonment.

Although the Act was passed by the English Parliament, it was later extended to Scotland by the Treason Act 1708, following the Union of the two kingdoms in the previous year. The Parliament of Ireland passed a law to the same effect in 1703, the Treason Act (Ireland) 1703 (c.5). This is still in force in Northern Ireland.

In fiction
  • In the movie King Ralph, Ralph used the Treason Act of 1702 as his justification in ordering the arrest of Lord Graves (John Hurt) on the grounds that Graves had interfered with Ralph's succession to the throne. After silently going through the Mnemonic Verse, he mentioned it was passed by William III, when in fact it was passed in the first year of Queen Anne's reign.
  • In the movie Johnny English, the "jumped-up Frenchman" Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich) is tried for treason under this Act when his plot to seize the throne is foiled, and the audience is told that the crime still carries a penalty of death by hanging. However, as the film was released in 2003 (the penalty was downgraded to life imprisonment in 1998), it renders the imposition of the death penalty inaccurate.

See also

References
  1. This Act does not have a statutory short title, but is commonly known by this name; The Stationery Office, Chronological Table of the Statutes, 2007, p.76
  2. Some volumes cite it as c.17
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