The crime of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. 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 diplo ...

is defined by Article 39 of the

Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the traditi ...

, adopted in 1937, which states:

History to 1937

Before the 1921 treaty that led to the creation of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

(''Saorstát Éireann''), treason was governed under the laws of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

. Many historical

Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...

insurgents executed for

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. 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 diplo ...

against

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

of the United Kingdom or of the earlier Kingdom of Ireland are considered heroes in independent Ireland. Section 1(1) of the Treasonable Offences Act 1925 (enacted under the 1922 Constitution) defined treason as:Treasonable Offences Act 1925
Irish Statute Book :(a) levying war against Saorstát Éireann, or :(b) assisting any state or person engaged in levying war against Saorstát Éireann, or :(c) conspiring with any person (other than his or her wife or husband) or inciting any person to levy war against Saorstát Éireann, or :(d) attempting or taking part or being concerned in an attempt to overthrow by force of arms or other violent means the Government of Saorstát Éireann as established by or under the Constitution, or :(e) conspiring with any person (other than his or her wife or husband) or inciting any person to make or to take part or be concerned in any such attempt. The maximum punishment was death. The Act also defined the offences of

misprision of treason Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a p ...

and of encouraging, harbouring, or comforting any person engaged in levying Saorstát Éireann or engaged, taking part, or concerned in any attempt to overthrow by force of arms or other violent means the Government of Saorstát Éireann as established by or under the Constitution of 1922. The Treasonable Offences Act 1925 was the first comprehensive and permanent measure designed to deal with offences against the state. Section 3 reenacted portions of the

Treason Felony Act 1848 The Treason Felony Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Parts of the Act are still in force. It is a law which protects the King and the Crown. The offences in the Act w ...

, while sections 4 and 5 dealt, respectively, with the usurpation of executive authority and assemblies pretending to parliamentary functions. Section 6 prohibited the formation of pretended military or police forces and section 7 proscribed unauthorised drilling. The Irish Civil War had been fought in 1922–23 between the Free State Army and the "Irregulars" of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

(IRA) loyal to the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

proclaimed in 1919. The republicans continued to refuse to recognise the Free State and its

successor state Succession of states is a concept in international relations regarding a successor state that has become a sovereign state over a territory (and populace) that was previously under the sovereignty of another state. The theory has its roots in 19th- ...

. A large minority of the populace had some sympathy with their views, such that the state demurred from prosecuting them for treason. Although the Garda Síochána prosecuted a number of persons under section 1.1(d) in 1925 and 1926, the Minister for Justice,

Kevin O'Higgins Kevin Christopher O'Higgins ( ga, Caoimhghín Críostóir Ó hUigín; 7 June 1892 – 10 July 1927) was an Irish politician who served as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice from 1922 to 1927, Minister for External ...

, believed that such serious charges were not 'desirable in the present conditions'. Rather more bluntly, in March 1930

Eoin O'Duffy Eoin O'Duffy (born Owen Duffy; 28 January 1890 – 30 November 1944) was an Irish military commander, police commissioner and politician. O'Duffy was the leader of the Monaghan Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a prominent figure i ...

, the Garda Commissioner, wrote that the prospect of charging IRA members with 'levying war against the State' or with usurping executive authority would make a 'laughing stock' of the Gardaí. Republicans were prosecuted for lesser offences under the

Offences against the State Acts 1939–1998 The Offences Against the State Acts 1939–1998 form a series of laws passed by the Irish Oireachtas. Offences under the Act The Act criminalises many actions deemed detrimental to state security. An organisation can be made subject to a suppre ...

Developments since 1937

The 1937 constitution's definition of treason was influenced by

Article Three of the United States Constitution Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. Under Article Three, the judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as lower courts created by Congres ...

. The pre-independence statutes relating to treason were not explicitly abolished until the

Statute Law Revision Act 1983 __NOTOC__ The Statute Law Revision Act 1983 (No 11) is an Act of the Oireachtas. Section 1 of the Act, with the Schedule, repeals, for the Republic of Ireland, various Acts of the Parliament of Ireland, the Parliament of England, the Parliamen ...

, but were incompatible with the 1937 constitution. The Treason Act 1939 gave legislative effect to Article 39, and provided for the imposition of the death penalty on persons convicted of committing treason within the state and on citizens convicted of committing treason against Ireland outside of the state.Treason Act 1939
Irish Statute Book The Act also created the ancillary offences of encouraging, harbouring and comforting persons guilty of treason, and the offence of misprision of treason. No person has been charged under this Act. The Criminal Justice Act 1964 abolished capital punishment in the Republic of Ireland generally, but retained it for treason and several other crimes. The Criminal Justice Act 1990 abolished the death penalty completely and set the punishment for treason at life imprisonment, with

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

in not less than forty years. The 1996 report of the Constitution Review Group considered the case for removing or altering the definition of treason in Article 39, and recommended no change. In 2010, in the context of the

Irish financial crisis The post-2008 Irish economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland, coincided with a series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, a subsequent pr ...

, the Green Party introduced a private member's bill to define the crime of "economic treason" in the Constitution.Twenty-Ninth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2011 (PMB)
Oireachtas

References

{{reflist

History to 1937

Developments since 1937

References

See also