Escape of Traitors Act 1572
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The Escape of Traitors Act 1572 (14 Eliz. I c.2), full title An Act against such as shall conspire or practice the enlargement of any prisoner committed for high treason, was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England enacted during the reign of Elizabeth I. The Act provided that it was henceforth a crime to conspire to "set at liberty" any person imprisoned on the Queen's orders for treason (or suspicion of treason) against the Queen's person. If they conspiracy to release the prisoner was before they had been convicted, the person found guilty under the Act was to be deemed a felon and suffer the penalty for [[treason]; if after conviction, they were to be deemed guilty of high treason and punished accordingly. The Act came into force from the end of that session of Parliament - July 1572 - and remained in force until the death of Elizabeth, when it expired. It was formally repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863.
[edit] References
- Select statutes and other constitutional documents illustrative of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I, ed. by G. W. Prothero. Oxford University Press, 1913. Fourth edition.
- Chronological table of the statutes; HMSO, London. 1993.
