Dictionary Search: "Treason" - Pakistan Law Portal

Treason

n. The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which one owes allegiance, either by making war against the state or by materially supporting its enemies. - Also termed high treason; alta proditio. - treasonable, treasonous adj. Cf. SEDITION. "The judgment of high treason was, until very lately, an exception to the merciful tenor of our judgments. The least offensive form which is given in the books is, that the offender be carried back to the place from whence he came, and from thence to be drawn to the place of execution, and be there hanged by the neck, and cut down alive, and that his entrails be taken out and burned before his face, and his head cut off, and his body

high treason.

See TREASON.

misprision o f treason

Concealment or nondisclosure of someone else's treason.

petty treason

Archaic. Murder of one's employer or husband. ( Until 1828, this act was considered treason under English law. - Also spelled petit treason. "The frequent reference to high treason is a carry-over from an ancient division of the offense that has long since disappeared. In the feudal stage of history the relation of lord to vassal was quite similar to the relation of king to subject. The relation of husband to wife came to be regarded in the same category, as also did the relation of master to servant, and that of prelate to clergyman. And just as it was high treason to kill the king, so a malicious homicide was petit treason if it involved a killing of (originally, lord by vassal, and later) husband by wife, master by mistress or servant, or prelate by clergyman. When the special brutality provided by the common law for the punishment of petit treason disappeared, this crime became merged with murder and only one crime of treason remained." Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 498-99 (3d ed. 1982).

treason felony

English law. An act that shows an intention of committing treason, unaccompanied by any further act to carry out that intention. ( This offense usu. results in life imprisonment rather than the death penalty. Cf. TREASONABLE MISDEMEANOR.

treasonable misdemeanor

See TREASONABLE MISDEMEANOR. 2. Archaic. Any crime, including a felony. "A crime, or misdemeanor, is an act committed, or omitted, in violation of a public law, either forbidding or commanding it. This general definition comprehends both crimes and misdemeanors; which, properly speaking, are mere synonymous terms: though, in common usage, the word, 'crimes,' is made to denote such offences as are of a deeper and more atrocious dye; while smaller faults, and omissions of less consequence, are comprised under the gentler names of 'misdemeanors' only." 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 5 (1769).