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The new law offered a narrower definition of treason than had existed before and split the old feudal offence into two classes. [21] [22] Petty treason referred to the killing of a master (or lord) by his servant, a husband by his wife, or a prelate by his clergyman. Men guilty of petty treason were drawn and hanged, whereas women were burned ...
In medieval times, most treason cases were in the context of a kingdom's internal politics. Though helping a foreign monarch against one's own sovereign would also count as treason, such were only a minority among treason cases.
Petty treason or petit treason was an offence under the common law of England in which a person killed or otherwise violated the authority of a social superior, other than the king. In England and Wales , petty treason ceased to be a distinct offence from murder by virtue of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 . [ 1 ]
Formerly, an individual was not entitled to assistance of counsel in any capital case, including treason; the rule, however, was abolished in treason cases by the Treason Act 1695. The same Act extended a rule from 1661 which had made it necessary to produce at least two witnesses to prove each alleged offence of high treason.
In the Middle Ages, blinding was used as a penalty for treason or as a means of rendering a political opponent unable to rule and lead an army in war. [7] The blinding of Byzantine general Belisarius (c. 500 – 565) at the order of the Emperor Justinian is probably apocryphal.
The Treason Act 1543 (35 Hen. 8. c. c. 2) was an Act of the Parliament of England passed during the reign of King Henry VIII of England , which stated that acts of treason or misprision of treason that were committed outside the realm of England could be tried within England.
A 1638 case is less clear: it involved a legal dispute between Ralf Claxton and Richard Lilburne (the latter the father of John Lilburne). The king again stepped in, and judges acted to delay proceedings. [19] [18] No record survives of the outcome of the case, but no contemporary account speaks of the trial by battle actually taking place.
The act made it treason, punishable by death, to disavow the Act of Supremacy 1534. Sir Thomas More was executed under this Act. It was introduced as a blanket law in order to deal with the minority of cases who would refuse to accept Cromwell's and Henry's changes in policies, instead of using the more traditional method of attainders.