The Treason Act 1415 (3 Hen. 5 st.2 c.6) was an
Act of the
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...
which made
clipping
Clipping may refer to:
Words
* Clipping (morphology), the formation of a new word by shortening it, e.g. "ad" from "advertisement"
* Clipping (phonetics), shortening the articulation of a speech sound, usually a vowel
* Clipping (publications) ...
coins
high 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 ...
, punishable by death. (It was already treason to
counterfeit
To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
coins.) The Act was repealed by the
Treason Act 1553
The Treason Act 1553 (1 Mary Sess 1 c 1) was an Act of the Parliament of England. (It should not be confused with another Act about treason passed in the same year, 1 Mary Sess 2 c 6.)
The Act abolished all forms of treason that had been creat ...
, and then revived again in 1562. The Act originally only protected English coins, but was later extended in 1575 to cover foreign coins "
current
Currents, Current or The Current may refer to:
Science and technology
* Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas
** Air current, a flow of air
** Ocean current, a current in the ocean
*** Rip current, a kind of water current
** Current (stre ...
" within England. By this time the Coin Act 1572
[14 Eliz.1 c. 3] had already made it
misprision of treason
Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a p ...
to clip foreign coins ''not'' current within the Realm.
Another Act in 1415, 3 Hen. 5 st.2 c.7, extended the jurisdiction to try this category of treason to all justices in the realm, instead of just the select few known as the King's justices.
The Coin Act 1575 also abolished (for coin clipping only) the penalties of
corruption of blood and forfeiture of goods and lands.
See also
*
Coin Act 1696
The Coin Act 1696 (8&9 Will.3 c.26) was an Act of the Parliament of England which made it high treason to make or possess equipment useful for counterfeiting coins. Its title was "An Act for the better preventing the counterfeiting the current Coi ...
*
High treason in the United Kingdom
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; committing adultery with the sovereign's consort, with the sovereign's eld ...
*
Treason Act
Treason Act or Treasons Act (and variations thereon) or Statute of Treasons is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland on the subject of treason and related offences.
Several Acts on the subje ...
References
Treason in England
Acts of the Parliament of England
1410s in law
1415 in England
1415
Currency law in the United Kingdom
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