Treason and Lords of Justiciary and counterfeiting the Great Seal of Scotland remain treason under sections 11 and 12 of the Treason Act 1708 respectively. Treason is a reserved matter about which the Scottish Parliament is prohibited from legislating. Two acts of the former Parliament of Ireland passed in 1537 and 1542 create further treasons which apply in Northern Ireland. The penalty for treason was changed from death to a maximum of imprisonment for life in 1998 under the Crime And Disorder Act. Before 1998, the death penalty was mandatory, subject to the royal prerogative of mercy. Since the abolition of
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