Owen Bowcott, legal affairs correspondent of Guardian writes
A 165-year-old law that threatens anyone calling for the abolition of the monarchy with life imprisonment is technically still in force – after the Ministry of Justice admitted wrongly announcing that it had been repealed.
The Treason Felony Act 1848 has been the subject of repeated legal confusion this century.
It was the subject of a high court challenge by the Guardian in 2003. This week, in a footnote to a list of new offences, the Ministry of Justice said the powers in section 3 of the Act had finally been swept away in a belated, legislative pruning of unwanted laws.
The act – which makes it a criminal offence, punishable by life imprisonment, to advocate abolition of the monarchy in print, even by peaceful means – has not been deployed in a prosecution since 1879.
The Ministry of Justice said: "Section 3 of the Treason Felony Act 1848 has not been repealed.
The Ministry of Justice has removed this publication and is reviewing its contents."
SIGN PETITION HERE:
PLEASE SIGN PETITION HERE TO REPEAT THIS ACT :
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/52840
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