Capital punishment in the United Kingdom espionage from "all spies for the enemy" to spies on naval ships or bases. Later, the Armed Forces Act 1981 abolished the death penalty for espionage. (The Official Secrets Act 1911 had created another offence of espionage which carried a maximum sentence of fourteen years.) Beheading was abolished as a method of execution for treason in 1973. Hanging, however, remained available until 1998 when, under a House of Lords amendment to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, proposed by Lord Archer of Sandwell, the death penalty was abolished for treason and piracy with violence, replacing it with a discretionary maximum
Treason Act 1800 It further provided that nothing in the Treason Act 1695 or the Treason Act 1708 was to extend to any indictment for high treason consisting of compassing or imagining the death of the King, or for misprision of such treason, which alleged any of the overt acts specified above. It further provided that nothing contained in the Act was to be construed to affect the penalty for treason fixed by law. The provisions of the Act were amended and extended to all cases of treason and misprision of treason by section 1 of the Treason Act 1945; subject to a