A copy of an indictment for treason and a list of the witnesses and jurors, together with the addresses of the latter, must be delivered to the prisoner ten days before the trial; and he is entitled to have counsel assigned to defend him. This right, which prisoners accused of other crimes hare not in English law, was conferred by a statute of Will. III.
The punishment for treason was the most severe and revolting of the harsh punishments imposed by the common law. The traitor was to be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, hanged by the neck, his head then severed from the body, the body divided into four quarters. and the head and quarters to be at the disposal of the Crown. But in 1S70 these barbarities were abolished, and the penalty is now changed to execution by hanging. The consequence of a conviction of treason was also forfeiture (q.v.) and corruption of blood, the corruption of blood having the effect that the attainted person could neither inherit lands from his ancestors nor transmit them to any heir. But this was al tered as regards England and Ireland in 1870 by the statute 33 and 34 Viet., e. 23. The convict suffers forfeiture and is disqualified for any public office; the court may order him to pay the costs of his conviction, and his whole property is transferred to administrators named by the Crown, who administer it and retransfer the surplus to his heirs and representatives.
There arc certain minor offenses which are called misprision of treason, being those closely bordering on treason. (See MismusioN.) Such are offenses which consist in the bare knowl edge and concealment of treason, without any degree of assent thereto, for any assent makes the party a principal traitor. The punishment of misprision of treason was loss of goods and lands during life.
In the United States treason may be either against an individual State or against the United States. In the former case it may be an offense at common law, although the Con stitution or statutes of most of the States define the crime and provide a punishment. Most of these provisions, however, are modeled after the provisions of the United States Constitution de fining treason. The Constitution of the United
States (Art. 3, sec. 3) provides that treason against the United States shall "consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to or giving aid and comfort to their enemies." It is further provided that no person shall be con victed of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the overt act or upon confession in open court. The penalty is death or imprison ment and fine at the discretion of the court. Levying war within the meaning of this pro vision must be a defiance of public government by armed force, and must amount to more than a mere riot or an interference with the execution of the laws for some private purpose. The acts of the defendant must also proceed beyond mere preparation, as by enlistment of men for military service. They must meet or be assembled for a treasonable purpose and some act done toward executing with force their purposes. Thus an assembly of men arrayed in a military manner for the purpose of overawing the public and finally assailing the Government is levying war upon the Government, although no actual blow is struck. Adhering to or giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States means more than mere sympathy with enemies of the Govern ment ; it must be the voluntary giving of actual assistance to those who are waging war against the United States.
Most of the State Constitutions contain pro visions similar to the clause of the United States Constitution, defining treason against the State and providing a punishment. Generally they provide that treason against a State may be com mitted by armed opposition to its laws or by forcibly attempting to overthrow or usurp the Government. In practice, the common law of crime and the statute law of crime in the several States have been found adequate to punish crime of a treasonable nature without resorting to prosecution for treason, and there have been few prosecutions for the specific offense of treason against a State. See ATTAINDER; cf. FR.EMUNIRE.