The Judgment of Death Act 1823 (c.48; repealed) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

(although it did not apply to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

). Passed at a time when there were over 200 offences in English law which carried a mandatory

sentence of death ''Sentence of Death'' is an EP and the debut release by German thrash metal band Destruction, released on 10 November 1984 by Steamhammer Records. Track listing Personnel ; Destruction * Schmier – bass, vocals * Mike Sifringer – gu ...

, it gave judges the discretion to pass a lesser sentence for the first time. It did not apply to

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

. The Act required judges to enter a sentence of death on the court record, but then allowed them to

commute Commute, commutation or commutative may refer to: * Commuting, the process of travelling between a place of residence and a place of work Mathematics * Commutative property, a property of a mathematical operation whose result is insensitive to th ...

the sentence to imprisonment. The Act was repealed in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

by the

Courts Act 1971 The Courts Act 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the purpose of which was to reform and modernise the courts system of England and Wales. It established the Crown Court, introduced the posts of circuit judge and recorde ...

,
Courts Act 1971
', Schedule 11: Repeals, Part IV in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

by the

Statute Law Revision Act 1983 __NOTOC__ The Statute Law Revision Act 1983 (No 11) is an Act of the Oireachtas. Section 1 of the Act, with the Schedule, repeals, for the Republic of Ireland, various Acts of the Parliament of Ireland, the Parliament of England, the Parliamen ...

Statute Law Revision Act 1983
', Schedule: Repeals, Part IV and repealed in 1980 in Northern Ireland. Since

piracy with violence The Piracy Act 1837 (7 Will 4 & 1 Vict c 88) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for most offences of piracy, but created a new offence often known as piracy with violence, which was punishable with ...

was still a capital crime, this had the (presumably unintended) effect of making the death penalty for that offence

mandatory Mandate most often refers to: * League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919 * Mandate (politics) In representative democracies, a mandate (or seat) ...

again, until the death penalty was totally abolished in 1998.

See also

References

Further reading