| Short Title: | Punishment of Offences Act 1837[1] |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act for abolishing the Punishment of Death in certain Cases. |
| Statute Book Chapter: | 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 91 |
| Royal Assent: | 17 July 1837 |
| Commencement: | 1 October 1837[2] |
| Repeal Date: | 21 July 2008[3] (United Kingdom) |
| Replaces: | 1 Jas. 1 Plague Act 1603 c. 31 |
| Status: | Repealed |
| Use New Uk-Leg: | yes |
The Punishment of Offences Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 91) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It abolished the death penalty for a number of statutory offences and replaced it with transportation for life.
This Act originally extended to the United Kingdom (which then included the whole of Ireland).
This Act was retained for the Republic of Ireland by section 2(2)(a) of, and Part 4 of Schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 2007.
This Act was repealed as to New Zealand by section 412(1) of, and the Fourth Schedule to, the Crimes Act 1961.
The preamble specified the following offences:
Immediately before its repeal in England and Wales this section read:
The words "after the commencement of this Act" in the first place were repealed by the Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1890. The words "at the discretion of the court" and "or for any Term not less than fifteen years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding three years" in the second and third places were repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1892.
So far as it related to offences under the Riot Act, the Murder Act 1751 and section 4 of the Unlawful Oaths Act 1812, this section was repealed by section 10(2) of, and Part III of Schedule 3 to the Criminal Law Act 1967.
It was repealed for Northern Ireland by section 15 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967.
The penalty was reduced 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, of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949, and of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1953. Section 1(1) of the 1949 Act was replaced by section 221(1) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975.
This section was repealed by the Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1893.
See also: Gaols Act 1823. This section was repealed by the Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1890.
This section was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1874.
This section was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1874.