The Treachery Act 1940 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 ...

effective during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to facilitate the prosecution and execution of enemy

spies Spies most commonly refers to people who engage in spying, espionage or clandestine operations. Spies or The Spies may also refer to: * Spies (surname), a German surname * Spies (band), a jazz fusion band * Spies (song), "Spies" (song), a song by ...

, suspended afterwards, and repealed in 1968 or 1973, territory depending. The law was passed in the month after

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

invaded

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

became

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, on 23 May 1940.

Reasons for the Act

The Treachery Act was deemed necessary because

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 ...

still had its own special rules of evidence and procedure which made it a difficult offence to prove and prosecute (see

Treason Act 1695 The Treason Act 1695 (7 & 8 Will 3 c 3) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of England which laid down rules of evidence and procedure in high treason trials. It was passed by the English Parliament but was extended to cover Scotland ...

). The newer offence, a

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

, was designed to make convictions easier as it could be proved under the same rules of evidence as ordinary offences. It was also needed because there was doubt whether the treason laws were applicable to saboteurs. In commending the Bill to the House of Commons, the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

Sir John Anderson John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, (8 July 1882 – 4 January 1958) was a Scottish civil servant and politician who is best known for his service in the War Cabinet during the Second World War, for which he was nicknamed the "Home Front Pr ...

, explained why the law was necessary:Hansard, 22 May 1940
/ref> In the House of Lords the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

Viscount Simon Viscount Simon, of Stackpole Elidor in the County of Pembroke, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 May 1940 for the Liberal politician Sir John Simon. He was Home Secretary from 1915 to 1916 and 1935 to 1937 ...

, elaborated: The Act was always intended to be a temporary emergency measure which would be repealed after the War. It was rushed through Parliament in two weeks, passing the Lords in a few minutes and receiving

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

on the same day.

Treachery and treason

The first section of the Treachery Act 1940 read: Some argue that the Act could easily have replaced the current, ancient statutes that relate to and define treason. After the war people continued to be prosecuted under the

Treason Act 1351 The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England which codified and curtailed the common law offence of treason. No new offences were created by the statute. It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has b ...

for disloyalty during the War. Besides the laxer rules of procedure and evidence, the other main difference was the death sentence for treason was

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) ...

, whereas the death sentence for treachery could be commuted by the court under the

Judgement of Death Act 1823 The Judgment of Death Act 1823 (c.48; repealed) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (although it did not apply to Scotland). Passed at a time when there were over 200 offences in English law which carried a mandatory sentence o ...

. No sentences were commuted by the courts. One was commuted by the Home Secretary.

Extent

Breach of a duty of

allegiance An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed, or freely committed, by the people, subjects or citizens to their state or sovereign. Etymology From Middle English ''ligeaunce'' (see medieval Latin ''ligeantia'', "a liegance"). The ''al ...

was not an element of treachery. Section 4 of the Act provided: "Dominion" meant any Dominion within the meaning of the

Statute of Westminster 1931 The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown. Passed on 11 December 1931, the statute increased the sovereignty of the ...

, except

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, and included any territory administered by the Government as a Dominion (section 5(1)).

Uses of the Act

Between 1940 and 1946, 19 people were executed for treachery. The first British subject to be executed under the law was

George Johnson Armstrong George Johnson Armstrong (1902 – 9 July 1941) was the first British citizen to be executed under the Treachery Act 1940. Only four other British subjects are known to have been executed under this Act; saboteur Jose Estelle Key (a Gibralta ...

, who was hanged at

HMP Wandsworth HM Prison Wandsworth is a Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service and is one of the largest prisons in the UK. History The prison w ...

on 10 July 1941."Traitor Hanged in Britain": 10 July 1941 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (page 5) German agent

Josef Jakobs Josef Jakobs (30 June 1898 – 15 August 1941) was a German spy and the last person to be executed at the Tower of London. He was captured shortly after parachuting into the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Convicted of espionage unde ...

, the last person to be executed in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

, was tried by a military court and executed by firing squad under this law. Jakobs was the only one to be shot instead of hanged under the act, since he had been captured as an enemy combatant. The last person to be executed under the law was British soldier

Theodore Schurch Theodore William John Schurch (5 May 1918 – 4 January 1946) was a British soldier who was executed under the Treachery Act 1940 after the end of the Second World War. He was the last person to be executed in Britain for an offence other than m ...

, who was hanged on 4 January 1946. Schurch was also the last person to be executed in the United Kingdom for an offence other than murder. A 20th person, Portuguese diplomat Rogerio de Magalhaes Peixoto de Menezes, was sentenced to death but had his sentence commuted by the Home Secretary,

Herbert Morrison Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the UK Cabinet as member of the Labour Party. During the inter-war period, he was Minis ...

, to penal servitude for life. He was deported in 1949.

Suspension and repeal

The Treachery Act 1940 was brought into being for the duration of the "war emergency" (section 6). The

Treason Act 1945 The Treason Act 1945 (8 & 9 Geo.6 c.44) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was introduced into the House of Lords as a purely procedural statute, whose sole purpose was to abolish the old and highly technical procedure in ca ...

abolished the special status of treason and enabled treason to be proved with the normal rules of evidence. The Treachery Act was suspended on 24 February 1946,The Treachery Act (End of Emergency) Order 1946 (S.R. & O. 1946, No. 893), article 2 and was later repealed in part as to its extent in 1968, with the remainder in 1973.

References

External links

– British newspaper

advertorial An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term "advertorial" is a blend (see portmanteau) of the words "advertisement" and "editorial." Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946. In printed publications, t ...

promoting a newly published biography of the only woman to be convicted under the Act. {{Authority control United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1940 1940 in law English criminal law Treason in the United Kingdom Emergency laws in the United Kingdom United Kingdom in World War II Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament World War II legislation