The Treason Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c.51) is an Act of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great ...

. It was passed early in the reign of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

. The last person to be convicted under the Act was

Marcus Sarjeant Marcus Simon Sarjeant (born ) is a British man who fired six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II as she rode down The Mall to the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London in 1981. Background Sarjeant, who was from Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkeston ...

in 1981, and the last person to be charged was Jaswant Singh Chail, on 2 August 2022, for trial later.

Background

On 29 May 1842, Victoria was riding in a carriage along

The Mall, London The Mall () is a road in the City of Westminster, central London, between Buckingham Palace at its western end and Trafalgar Square via Admiralty Arch to the east. Near the east end at Trafalgar Square and Whitehall it is met by Horse Guard ...

, when John Francis, described by Victoria's husband Prince Albert as a "little, swarthy, ill-looking rascal ... of the age of twenty-six to thirty, with a shabby hat and of dirty appearance", aimed a pistol at her but did not fire. The following day, Victoria drove the same route, though faster and with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to provoke Francis to take a second aim and catch him in the act. As expected, Francis shot at her, but he was seized by plain clothes policemen, tried, and convicted of

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 ...

. Francis's death sentence was commuted to transportation for life on 1 July. Two days later, in a similar attack, John William Bean fired a pistol at the Queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco. Edward Oxford, who had shot at Victoria in 1840, felt that the attempts were encouraged by his acquittal on the grounds of insanity two years before. Bean's assault, though physically harmless, was still punishable by death. Feeling that such a penalty was too harsh, Albert encouraged Parliament to pass a law recognising lesser crimes against the monarch, such as intent to alarm. Bean was sentenced to 18 months in gaol.

Section 1

In 19th century Britain,

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 ...

had its own special rules of evidence and procedure, which made it difficult to prosecute traitors successfully, such as the requirement that the prosecution produce two witnesses to the same overt act, or that three judges preside at the trial. (''See Treason Act 1695 for details.'') The Treason Act 1800 relaxed these rules in relation to attempts on the King's life, bringing the rules in such cases in line with the less restrictive rules which then existed in ordinary

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

cases. Section 1 of the 1842 Act went further, removing the special rules in all cases of treason involving any attempt to wound or maim the King. This section was repealed on 15 June 1945 by the Treason Act 1945. This repeal was consequential on the extension of the ordinary rules of evidence and procedure to all forms of treason by section 1 of that Act.

Section 2

This section is still in force. It created a new offence (less serious than treason) of assaulting the monarch, or of having a firearm or offensive weapon in his presence with intent to injure or alarm him or to cause a

breach of the peace Breach of the peace, or disturbing the peace, is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the several jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public or ...

. In 1981,

was sentenced to five years on pleading guilty to firing blank shots at

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

when she was on parade. On 2 August 2022, Jaswant Singh Chail was charged with offences under section 2 of the Treason Act, 1842. He had been arrested in the grounds of

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original ...

on 25 December 2021; he was charged with "discharging or aiming firearms, or throwing or using any offensive matter or weapon, with intent to injure or alarm her Majesty".

Sentence

Today, a person convicted of an offence under this section is liable to

imprisonment Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

for a term not exceeding seven years. Originally, an attempt to assault or alarm the monarch was made punishable by

flogging Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

and up to seven years' imprisonment. No-one who violated the act was ever flogged.Poole, pp. 199–203

Relevant cases

:''R v. Francis'' (1842) 4 State Tr N.S. 1376 :''R v. Bean'' (1842) 4 State Tr N.S. 1382 :''R v. Hamilton'' (1849) 7 State Tr N.S. 1130 : Pate's Case (1850) 8 State Tr N.S. 1

Section 3

This section is also still in force, and provides that section 2 does not affect the penalty for treason. However, although under the

Treason Act 1795 The Treason Act 1795 (sometimes also known as the Treasonable and Seditious Practices Act) (36 Geo. 3 c. 7) was one of the Two Acts introduced by the British government in the wake of the stoning of King George III on his way to open Parl ...

many kinds of assault on the Monarch were treason, that Act was repealed in 1998. Under the present law, in Great Britain it is now only treason to "compass or imagine" the Monarch's death. Consequently, assaulting the Monarch is only treason if it proves that state of mind. In Northern Ireland intending or causing "any bodily harm" to the King remains treason under the

Treason Act (Ireland) 1537 The Treason Act (Ireland) 1537 (28 Hen 8 c. 7, long title ''An Act of Slander'') is an Act of the former Parliament of Ireland which adds several offences to the law of treason in Ireland. It was repealed in the Republic of Ireland in 1962 (bu ...

References

* Hibbert, Christopher (2000) ''Queen Victoria: A Personal History'', London: HarperCollins, *Poole, Steve (2000) ''The Politics of Regicide in England, 1760–1850: Troublesome Subjects'', Manchester: Manchester University Press, *St Aubyn, Giles (1991) ''Queen Victoria: A Portrait'', London:

Sinclair-Stevenson Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd is a British publisher founded in 1989 by Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson. Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson became an editor at Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 ...

External links

Hansard (House of Commons)
12 July 1842, vol.65, col. 19 - 28 (first and second reading)
Hansard (House of Commons)
13 July 1842, vol.65, col. 80 - 84 (committee)
Hansard (House of Commons)
13 July 1842, vol.65, col. 99 (third reading)
Hansard (House of Lords)
14 July 1842, vol.65, col. 100 - 101 (first reading)
Hansard (House of Commons)
15 July 1842, vol.65, col. 182 - 184 (report)
Hansard (House of Lords)
15 July 1842, vol.65, col. 167 - 171 (second reading) * {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1842 1842 in law Treason in the United Kingdom