Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 all sentences of death were to be commuted to sentences of life imprisonment. The legislation contained a sunset clause, which stated that the Act would expire on 31 July 1970 "unless Parliament by affirmative resolutions of both Houses otherwise determines". This was done in 1969 and the Act was made permanent. The Act left four capital offences: high treason, "piracy with violence" (piracy with intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm), arson in royal dockyards and espionage, as well as other capital offences under military law. The death penalty was not finally abolished in the United Kingdom until 1998
High treason in the United Kingdom Women were excluded from this type of punishment and instead were drawn and then burned at the stake, until this was replaced with hanging by the Treason Act 1790 and the Treason by Women Act (Ireland) 1796. The penalty for high treason by counterfeiting or clipping coins was the same as the penalty for petty treason (which for men was drawing and hanging without the torture and quartering, and for women was burning or hanging.) Individuals of noble birth were not subjected to either form of torture, but merely beheaded. Even commoners' sentences were sometimes commuted to beheading—a sentence not