| Short Title: | Treason Act 1702 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of England |
| Long Title: | An Act for enlarging the Time for taking the Oath of Abjuration; and also for re-capacitating and indemnifying such Persons as have not taken the same by the Time limited, and shall take the same by a Time to be appointed; and for the further Security of Her Majesty's Person, and the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant Line; and for extinguishing the Hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales, and all other Pretenders, and their open and secret Abettors. |
| Year: | 1702 |
| Citation: | 1 Ann. St. 2. c. 21 (Ruffhead c. 17) |
| Territorial Extent: | Kingdom of England (inc. Wales); extended to Scotland in 1708 |
| Royal Assent: | 27 February 1703 |
| Amendments: | Promissory Oaths Act 1871, Statute Law Revision Act 1887, Statute Law Revision Act 1948, Crime and Disorder Act 1998 |
| Status: | partially_repealed |
| Revised Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/AnnSt2/1/21/introduction |
| Short Title: | Treason Act (Ireland) 1703 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of Ireland |
| Long Title: | An Act to make it High Treason in this Kingdom to impeach the Succession of the Crown, as limited by several Acts of Parliament. |
| Year: | 1703 |
| Citation: | 2 Anne c. 5 (I) |
| Amendments: | Treason Act 1945 |
| Status: | partially_repealed |
| Status Ie: | repealed |
| Status Ni: | current |
| Uk-Leg Title: | Treason Act (Ireland) 1703 [I] |
| Collapsed: | yes |
The Treason Act 1702[1] (1 Ann. St. 2. c. 21[2]) is an Act of the Parliament of England, passed to enforce the line of succession to the English throne (today the British throne), previously established by the Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701.
The Act makes it treason to "endeavour to deprive or hinder any person who shall be the next in succession to the crown for the time being ... from succeeding after the decease of her Majesty (whom God long preserve) to the imperial crown of this realm and the dominions and territories thereunto belonging".
Originally a capital offence, the penalty was reduced in 1998 to life imprisonment.
Although the Act was passed by the English Parliament, it was later extended to Scotland by the Treason Act 1708, following the Union of the two kingdoms in the previous year. The Parliament of Ireland passed a law to the same effect in 1703, the Treason Act (Ireland) 1703 (2 Ann. c. 5 (I)). This is still in force in Northern Ireland.