Capital punishment in Europe rights became a particular priority. The Kingdom of Italy had abolished the death penalty for civilians with the adoption of the Zanardelli Penal Code of 1889, but the Fascists had reintroduced it with the 1930 Penal Code. The European Convention on Human Rights was adopted in 1950, but some countries took many years to ratify it. The United Kingdom retained the death penalty for high treason until 1998; however, this technicality was superseded by the absolute ban on the death penalty in 1976. William Joyce was the last person to be put to death for high treason in the UK,
Treason Queen in right of New Zealand commits treason who, within or outside New Zealand,— The penalty is life imprisonment, except for conspiracy, for which the maximum sentence is 14 years' imprisonment. Treason was the last capital crime in New Zealand law, with the death penalty not being revoked until 1989, years after it was abolished for murder. Very few people have been prosecuted for the act of treason in New Zealand and none have been prosecuted in recent years. Article 85 of the Constitution of Norway states that "[a]ny person who obeys an order the purpose of which is to