Judgment of Death Act 1823
![]() | This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2014) |
![]() | |
Long title | An Act for enabling Courts to abstain from pronouncing Sentence of Death in certain Capital Felonies |
---|---|
Citation | 4 Geo. 4 c 48 |
Territorial extent | |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | |
Status: Repealed |
The Judgment of Death Act 1823 (sic)[1] (c.48; repealed) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (although it did not apply to Scotland). Passed at a time when there were over 200 offences in English law which carried a mandatory sentence of death, it gave judges the discretion to pass a lesser sentence for the first time. It did not apply to treason or murder. The Act required judges to enter a sentence of death on the court record, but then allowed them to commute the sentence to imprisonment.
The Act was repealed in England and Wales by the Courts Act 1971,[1] in the Republic of Ireland by the Statute Law Revision Act 1983[2] and repealed in 1980 in Northern Ireland.[citation needed] Since piracy with violence was still a capital crime, this had the (presumably unintended) effect of making the death penalty for that offence mandatory again,[citation needed] until the death penalty was totally abolished in 1998.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Courts Act 1971, Schedule 11: Repeals, Part IV
- ^ Statute Law Revision Act 1983, Schedule: Repeals, Part IV
Further reading[]
- 1823 in law
- United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1823
- English criminal law
- Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament
- Anti–death penalty laws
- Capital punishment in the United Kingdom