Treason Act 1945

TheTreason Act 1945 (8 & 9 Geo. 6. c. 44) was anact of theParliament of the United Kingdom.

Treason Act 1945^[a]
Dates
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to assimilate the procedure in all cases of treason and misprision of treason to the procedure in cases of murder.
Citation	8 & 9 Geo. 6. c. 44
Territorial extent	United Kingdom^[b]
Royal assent	15 June 1945
Commencement	15 June 1945^[c]
Repealed	1 February 1981
Other legislation
Amends	Treason Act 1708 Treason Act 1800
Amended by	Statute Law Revision Act 1953
Repealed by	Criminal Law Act 1967 s.10(2) Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967, s.15(2) Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, s.41(1) Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, s.83(3)
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

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 cases oftreason, and assimilate it to the procedure on trials for murder:

Its provisions are absolutely confined to matters of procedure, and it does not make any change whatsoever in the law as to what constitutes treason.^[1]

It also abolished the rule that treason trials in Scotland had to be conducted according to the rules of English criminal law.^[2]

Provisions

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Section 1

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Section 1 of the act applied theTreason Act 1800 (39 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 93) to all cases of treason and misprision of treason, subject to five separate repeals of words, and to a saving clause in section 2(2):

The Treason Act, 1800 (which assimilates the procedure in certain cases of treason and misprision of treason to the procedure in cases of murder) shall apply in all cases of treason and misprision of treason whether alleged to have been committed before or after the passing of this Act.

Section 2

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Section 2(1) of the act effected consequential repeals.

The application of the Treason Act 1800 was subject to a saving clause in section 2(2).

For the removal of doubt it is hereby declared that nothing in the Treason Act, 1800, shall be deemed to have repealed any of the provisions of the Treason Act, 1695, or of the Treason Act, 1708, except the provisions of those Acts specified in the third column of the Schedule to this Act.

Section 3

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Section 3(1) of the act provided that it may be cited as the Treason Act, 1945.

Section 3(2) of the act extended theTreason Act 1800 (39 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 93), as applied by the act, toNorthern Ireland.

Section 3(3) of the act provided that, for the purposes of section 6 of theGovernment of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 67), the act was to be deemed to be an act passed before the appointed day.

Use of the act

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The procedure established by this act was used in four trials: those ofWilliam Joyce,John Amery,Thomas Haller Cooper andWalter Purdy.^[3]^[4] J. W. Hall^[5] said that if the statutory requirement for corroboration had not been repealed by this act, William Joyce could not have been convicted on the basis of the evidence offered at his trial. One witness, Detective Inspector Hunt, connected him with the broadcastsduring the period before the expiration of the passport (though other witnesses might have come forward).

Repeal and replacement

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The whole act was repealed inEngland and Wales by theCriminal Law Act 1967, and replaced bysection 12(6) of that act.

The whole act was repealed inScotland by theCriminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980. Today, equivalent provision is made insection 289 of theCriminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

The whole act was repealed in Northern Ireland by theCriminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967, and replaced bysection 14(7) of that Act.

Notes

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^Section 3(1).
^The act is presumed to extend to the United Kingdom because the contrary is not specified
^TheActs of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793.