Treason Act (Ireland) 1537 Treason Act (Ireland) 1537 The Treason Act (Ireland) 1537 (28 Hen 8 c. 7, long title "An Act of Slander") is an Act of the former Parliament of Ireland which adds several offences to the law of treason in Ireland. It was repealed in the Republic of Ireland in 1962 (but was obsolete well before then). The Act makes the following conduct treason: The penalty for treason was death until 1998, when it was reduced to imprisonment for life or a lesser term. During the debate on the abolition of the death penalty, the Earl of Onslow said: Section I
High treason in the United Kingdom with a strict requirement for a minimum of two witnesses to the crime. In 1832 the death penalty was abolished for treason by forging seals and the Royal sign manual. In 1870, attainder was abolished. In the same year in England, and in 1949 in Scotland, posthumous drawing and quartering was abolished, and so the sole punishment was hanging. Beheading was abolished in 1973, by which time it had long been obsolete. By 1965, capital punishment had been abolished for almost all crimes, but was still mandatory (unless the offender was pardoned or the sentence commuted) for high treason until