Odger's English Common Law

BOOK II.—PART II.
OFFENCES AGAINST THE SOVEREIGN, THE CONSTITUTION"
AND THE GOOD OEDEE OF THE EEALM.
Chapter I.
TREASON.
Treason is now a purely statutory offence. It is defined
by four statutes :
—
25 Edw. III., st. 5, c. 2
1 Anne, st. 2, c. 21
6 Anne, c. 41 ; and
36 Geo. III. c. 7.
These statutes have entirely superseded the common law
on the subject. Any act of disloyalty or any attack on the
Constitution, which does not fall within the terms of one or
other of these four Acts of Parliament as construed by our
judges, is not treason, 1 though, as we shall shortly see, it may
be punishable as sedition or riot.
The crime of treason cannot be tried at Quarter Sessions.
It is punishable with death, which is generally inflicted by
hanging—though the Crown may by sign manual direct that
the traitor be beheaded.
No person can be guilty of the crime of treason, unless he
owes allegiance to the King. Allegiance to the King is due
from every person born within the King's dominions, and
also from every person born abroad of parents who are
British subjects. It is also due from an alien who has
1 The name High Treason was given to this offence in order to distinguish it
from the crime of Petit Treason, which involved a breach of faith due from an
inferior to a superior other than the King, e.g., where a servant killed his master,
or a wife killed her husband, or an ecclesiastic killed his bishop. The crime of
Petit Treason was abolished by 9 Geo. IV. c. 31, s. 2, and 24 & 25 Vict c 100 s 8
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