The Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797 (37 Geo 3 c 70) was an Act

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 passed by the Parliament of Great Britain

Parliament of Great Britain

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...

. The Act was passed in the aftermath of the Spithead and Nore mutinies

Spithead and Nore mutinies

The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. There were also discontent and minor incidents on ships in other locations in the same year. They were not violent insurrections, being more in the nature of strikes, demanding better pay and conditions...

 and aimed to prevent the seduction of sailors and soldiers to commit mutiny

Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...

.

The Act was made permanent by the Allegiance of Sea and Land Forces Act 1817 (57 Geo 3 c 7).

The Parliament of Ireland

Parliament of Ireland

The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. In its early mediaeval period during the Lordship of Ireland it consisted of either two or three chambers: the House of Commons, elected by a very restricted suffrage, the House of Lords in which the lords...

 passed an equivalent Act in the same year: the Incitement to Disaffection Act (Ireland) 1797

Incitement to Disaffection Act (Ireland) 1797

The Incitement to Disaffection Act 1797 was an Act of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland. It made equivalent provision to the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797 for Ireland....

 37 Geo 3 c 40 (I).

Section 1 - Any person who shall attempt to seduce any sailor or soldier from his duty or incite him to mutiny, etc to suffer death

This section provided:
The words at the end were repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1888.

The reference to felony had to be construed according to the Criminal Law Act 1967

Criminal Law Act 1967

The Criminal Law Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. However, with some minor exceptions, it generally applies to only England and Wales. It made some major changes to English criminal law...

 and the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967.

The offence was extended to members of the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 by the Air Force (Application of Enactments) (No 2) Order 1918 (S.R. & O. 1918/548).

Section 3 provided that a person tried for an offence under this Act could not be tried again on the same facts for high treason

High treason in the United Kingdom

Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; having sexual intercourse with the sovereign's consort, with his eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the...

 or misprision of high treason

Misprision of treason

Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a proper authority...

.

The death penalty for the offence under section 1 was reduced to transportation

Penal transportation

Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...

 for life by section 1 of the Punishment of Offences Act

Punishment of Offences Act

The Punishment of Offences Act was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 (1837). It was reduced again to penal servitude for life by section 2 of the Penal Servitude Act 1857, and to imprisonment for life by section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1948

Criminal Justice Act 1948

The Criminal Justice Act 1948 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has been described as "one of the most important measures relating to the reform of the criminal law and its administration." It abolished penal servitude, hard labour and prison divisions for England and Wales...

 and of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949.

Section 3 - Persons tried for offences against this Act not to be tried again for the same, as high treason, or misprision of high treason, etc

This section read:

External links

• The Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797, at the time of its repeal.