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 cases of treason, 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.

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

Section 1
Section 1 of the Act applied the Treason Act 1800 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
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For the removal of doubt it is hereby declared that nothing in the Treason Act, 1800, shall be deemed to have repealed any of the provisions of the Treason Act, 1695, or of the Treason Act, 1708, except the provisions of those Acts specified in the third column of the Schedule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
Section 3(1) of the Act provided that it may be cited as the Treason Act, 1945.

Section 3(2) of the Act extended the Treason Act 1800, as applied by the Act, to Northern Ireland.

Section 3(3) of the Act provided that, for the purposes of section 6 of the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Act was to be deemed to be an Act passed before the appointed day.

Use of the Act
The procedure established by this Act was used in four trials: those of William Joyce, John Amery, Thomas Haller Cooper and Walter Purdy. J. W. Hall said that if the statutory requirement for corroboration had not been repealed by this Act, William Joyce could not have been convicted on the basis of the evidence offered at his trial.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 broadcasts during the period before the expiration of the passport (though other witnesses might have come forward).

Repeal and replacement
The Act was repealed in England and Wales by the Criminal Law Act 1967, and replaced by section 12(6) of that Act.

The Act was repealed in Scotland by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980. Today, equivalent provision is made in section 289 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

The Act was repealed in Northern Ireland by the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967, and replaced by section 14(7) of that Act.