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Treason

Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance.[1] This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state. A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor.[2]

For other uses, see Treason (disambiguation), High Treason (disambiguation), and Traitor (disambiguation).

Historically, in common law countries, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife or that of a master by his servant. Treason (i.e. disloyalty) against one's monarch was known as high treason and treason against a lesser superior was petty treason. As jurisdictions around the world abolished petty treason, "treason" came to refer to what was historically known as high treason.


At times, the term traitor has been used as a political epithet, regardless of any verifiable treasonable action. In a civil war or insurrection, the winners may deem the losers to be traitors. Likewise the term traitor is used in heated political discussion – typically as a slur against political dissidents, or against officials in power who are perceived as failing to act in the best interest of their constituents. In certain cases, as with the Dolchstoßlegende (stab-in-the-back myth), the accusation of treason towards a large group of people can be a unifying political message.

In individual jurisdictions[edit]

Australia[edit]

In Australia, there are federal and state laws against treason, specifically in the states of New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Similarly to Treason laws in the United States, citizens of Australia owe allegiance to their sovereign at the federal and state level.


The federal law defining treason in Australia is provided under section 80.1 of the Criminal Code, contained in the schedule of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995.[11] It defines treason as follows:

considered treason in Islamic belief

Apostasy in Islam

dropping a prosecution for treason in exchange for money or money's worth

Compounding treason

or leaving the country, regarded in some communist countries (especially during the Cold War) as disloyalty to the state

Defection

or spying

Espionage

insulting a head of state and a crime in some countries

Lèse-majesté

a crime consisting of the concealment of treason

Misprision of treason

inciting civil unrest or insurrection, or undermining the government

Sedition

attacking a state regardless of allegiance

Treachery

a British offence tantamount to treason

Treason felony

There are a number of other crimes against the state short of treason:

Betrayal

Constructive treason

Law of majestas

List of people convicted of treason

Bellemare, Pierre; Nahmias, Jean-François (2009). La Terrible vérité: 26 grandes énigmes de l'histoire enfin résolues (in French). Albin Michel. p. . ISBN 978-2-226-19676-7.

149

Ben-Yehuda, Nachman, "Betrayals and Treason. Violations of trust and Loyalty." Westview Press, 2001,  0-8133-9776-6

ISBN

Ó Longaigh, Seosamh, "Emergency Law in Independent Ireland, 1922–1948", Four Courts Press, Dublin 2006  1-85182-922-9

ISBN

Philippe Buc, "Civil war and religion in Medieval Japan and Medieval Europe: War for the gods, emotions at death, and treason", The Indian Economic and Social History Review 57:2 (2020), 1-27.

West, Rebecca. 1952. The Meaning of Treason. London: Macmillan & Co. LTD.

Official site

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations