Treachery Act 1940 facts for kids
| Act of Parliament | |
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| Long title | An Act to make further provision for the trial and punishment of treachery. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 3 & 4 Geo. VI c. 21 |
| Introduced by | Sir John Anderson, Home Secretary (Commons) Viscount Simon, Lord Chancellor (Lords) |
| Territorial extent | applied to anything done:
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| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 23 May 1940 |
| Commencement | 23 May 1940 |
| Expired | 24 February 1946 |
| Repealed | 1 January 1968 (all other than with respect to Scotland and Northern Ireland) 18 July 1973 (Scotland and Northern Ireland) |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Criminal Law Act 1967 (c.58), s. 10(2) and Part 1 of Schedule 3; Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1973, s. 1(1) and Part V of Schedule 1 |
| Relates to | Treason Act 1945 |
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Status: Repealed
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| 1940_(United_Kingdom) Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Treachery Act 1940 was a special law passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom during World War II. Its main goal was to make it easier to find and punish enemy spies. This law was only meant to be temporary. It was stopped after the war and later completely removed from the law books in 1968 or 1973, depending on the area.
The law became active on May 23, 1940. This was just a month after Nazi Germany attacked France. It was also the month when Winston Churchill became the Prime Minister.
Contents
Why the Treachery Act Was Needed
This new law was created because older laws about treason were very difficult to use. Treason is a serious crime against one's country. The old rules for proving treason made it hard to get a conviction.
The Treachery Act was designed to be simpler. It allowed people accused of treachery to be tried with the same rules as other crimes. This made it easier to prove guilt. The law was also needed because people weren't sure if the old treason laws covered people who tried to damage things (saboteurs).
The government always planned for the Treachery Act to be a short-term emergency law. It was passed very quickly by Parliament in just two weeks. It even received the royal assent (official approval) on the same day it passed the House of Lords.
Treachery and Treason: What's the Difference?
Some people thought the Treachery Act could have replaced the very old laws about treason. However, even after World War II, people were still charged under the Treason Act 1351 for being disloyal during the war.
There were two main differences between treachery and treason. First, the Treachery Act had simpler rules for trials. Second, if someone was found guilty of treason, the punishment by death was always given. But for treachery, the court could sometimes change the death sentence to a different punishment. However, courts rarely changed these sentences. Only one sentence was changed by the Home Secretary, a government minister.
Where the Law Applied
The Treachery Act did not require a person to have broken a promise of loyalty to the King or Queen. Section 4 of the Act explained where it applied:
This Act shall apply to anything done—
- (a) by a British citizen who was not in a Dominion (like Canada or Australia), India, Burma, or Southern Rhodesia;
- (b) by any person who was under military law (like soldiers or sailors), no matter where they were; or
- (c) by any person in the United Kingdom, or on any British ship or aircraft, unless it was a ship or aircraft from a Dominion.
A "Dominion" meant a country that was part of the British Commonwealth, like Canada or Australia.
How the Act Was Used
Between 1940 and 1946, 19 people were punished by death for treachery. Five of these people were British citizens.
The first British citizen to be punished by death under this law was George Johnson Armstrong. He was hanged on July 10, 1941. A German agent named Josef Jakobs was the last person to be punished by death in the Tower of London. He was tried by a military court and shot by a firing squad under this law. Jakobs was the only one to be shot instead of hanged because he was captured as an enemy soldier.
The last person to be punished by death under this law in the United Kingdom was a British soldier named Theodore Schurch. He was also the last person to be punished by death in the UK for any crime other than murder.
Another person, a Portuguese diplomat named Regério de Magalhaes Peixoto de Menezes, was sentenced to death. But the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison, changed his sentence to life in prison with hard labor. He was sent out of the country in 1949. Dorothy O'Grady was also sentenced to death for treachery, but her conviction was later overturned, meaning she was found not guilty.
Ending the Act
The Treachery Act 1940 was created only for the "war emergency." In 1945, a new law called the Treason Act 1945 was passed. This new law made it easier to prove treason using normal trial rules.
The Treachery Act was put on hold on February 24, 1946. It was partly removed from law in 1968 and completely removed in 1973.
See also
- Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
- High treason in the United Kingdom
- Defence of the Realm Act 1914
- Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939
- Defence Regulations
