| Short Title: | Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797[1] |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of Great Britain |
| Long Title: | An Act for the better Prevention and Punishment of Attempts to seduce Persons serving in His Majesty’s Forces by Sea or Land from their Duty and Allegiance to His Majesty, or to incite them to Mutiny or Disobedience. |
| Year: | 1797 |
| Citation: | 37 Geo. 3. c. 70 |
| Royal Assent: | 6 June 1797 |
| Repealing Legislation: | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1998, Schedule 1, Part I, Group 2 |
| Status: | repealed |
| Revised Text: | http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/37/70/contents |
| Short Title: | Allegiance of Sea and Land Forces Act 1817 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An act to revive and make perpetual Two Acts of the Thirty-seventh Year of His present Majesty, the one in the Parliament of Great Britain, and the other in the Parliament of Ireland, for the better Prevention and Punishment of Attempts to seduce Persons serving in His Majesty's Forces by Sea or Land from their Duty and Allegiance to His Majesty, or to incite them to Mutiny or Disobedience. |
| Year: | 1817 |
| Citation: | 57 Geo. 3. c. 7 |
| Collapsed: | yes |
The Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797 (37 Geo. 3. c. 70) was an Act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. The Act was passed in the aftermath of the Spithead and Nore mutinies and aimed to prevent the seduction of sailors and soldiers to commit mutiny.[2]
The Act was made permanent by the Allegiance of Sea and Land Forces Act 1817 (57 Geo. 3. c. 7).
The Parliament of Ireland passed an equivalent Act in the same year: the Incitement to Disaffection Act (Ireland) 1797 (37 Geo. 3. c. 40 (I)).[3]
This section provided:
The words at the end were repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1888.
The reference to felony was construed as a reference to "an offence" following the Criminal Law Act 1967 and the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967.
The offence was extended to members of the Royal Air Force by the Air Force (Application of Enactments) (No 2) Order 1918 (S.R. & O. 1918/548).
The death penalty for the offence under section 1 was reduced to transportation for life by section 1 of the Punishment of Offences Act 1837.[4] 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 and of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949.
This section was repealed by Part III of Schedule 3 to the Criminal Law Act 1967.
This section read:
This section was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1871.