treason

the crime thus consists of two elements—adhering to the enemy; and giving him aid and comfort. One may think disloyal thoughts and have his heart on the side of the enemy. Yet if he commits no act giving aid and comfort to the enemy, he is not guilty of treason. He may on the other hand commit acts which do give aid and comfort to the enemy and yet not be guilty of treason, as for example where he acts impulsively with no intent to betray.

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This word imports a betraying, treachery, or breach of allegiance. 4 Bla. Com. 75. In England, treason was divided into high and petit treason. The latter, originally, was of several forms, which, by 25 Edw. III. st. 5, c. 2, were reduced to three: the killing by a wife, of her husband; by a servant, of his master; of a prelate by an ecclesiastic owing obedience to him. These kinds of treason were abolished in 41 Treason it has been said is not felony but a grade of crime by itself.” Johnson v. State, 29 N. J. L. 453, 464. The constitution of the United States, art. 3, s. 3, defines treason against the United States to consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. By the same article of the constitution, no person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. It is “the only crime defined by the constitution.... The clause was borrowed from an ancient English statute, enacted in the year 1352. Previous to the passage of that statute there was great uncertainty as to what constituted treason. Numerous offences were raised to its grade by arbitrary construction of the law. The statute was passed to remove this uncertainty and to restrain the power of the crown to oppress the subject by constructions of this character. It comprehends all treason under seven distinct branches. The framers of our constitution selected one of these branches, and declared that treason against the United States should be restricted to the acts which it designates.” No other acts can be declared to constitute the offence. Congress can neither extend, nor restrict, nor define the crime. Its power over the subject is limited to prescribing the punishment. Field, J., in U. S. v. Greathouse, 4 Sawy. 465, Fed. Cas. No. 15,251. See James C. Carter, The Law, etc., 107. By the same article of the constitution, no “attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood except during the life of, the person attainted.” Every person owing allegiance to the United States who levies war against them, or adheres to their enemies giving them aid and comfort within the, United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason; R. S. § 5331. The penalty is death, or at the discretion of the court, imprisonment at hard labor for not less than five years and a fine of not less than ten thousand dollars; and every person convicted of treason is rendered incapable of holding any office under the United States; It. S. § 5332. The term enemies, as used in the constitution, applies only to subjects of a foreign power in a state of open hostility with us. To constitute a “levying of war” there must be an assemblage of persons with force and arrds to overthrow the government or resist the laws. All who aid in the furtherance of the common object of levying war against the United States, in however minute a degree, or however remote from the scene of action, are guilty of treason; U. S. v. Greathouse, 4 Sawy. 457, Fed. Cas. No. 15,254. Treason may be committed against a state; Charge to Grand Jury

— Treason, 1 Sto. 614, The words “treason, felony and breach of the peace” in section 6, art. 1, of the United States constitution should be construed in the same sense as they were commonly used and understood in England as applied to the parliamentary privilege, and as excluding from the privilege all arrests and prosecutions for criminal offences, and confining the privilege alone to arrests in civil cases; Williamson v. U. S., 207 U. S. 425, 28 Sup. Ct. 163, 52 U. Ed. 278. Treason felony in England is a statutory offense punishable with penal servitude for life under an act of 1848, and relates to the offense of deposing the king from the style, honor or royal name of the imperial crown, or declaring war against him to compel him to change his measures or councils, or to put any force upon parliament, etc. By the Act of 1814, treason was punished by mutilation after death; by the act of 1870, by hanging, unless the king substitutes decapitation. 4 Steph. Com. 144. Treason, or its French equivalent, “Traliison'* (German, Kricgsverrath ), as employed to indicate any acts on the part of the inhabitants of an invaded territory which are calculated to deceive the invader or to inform their own side of his forces or movements. Holland, War on Land 49. See Sedition.

The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance; or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power. Webster. In England, treason is an offense particularly directed against the person of the sovereign, and consists
(1) in compassing or imagining the death of the king or queen, or their eldest sen and heir;
(2) in violating the king's companion, or the king's eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the king's eldest son and heir;
(3) in levying war against the king in his realm;
(4) in adhering to the king's enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere, and
(5) slaying the chancellor, treasurer, or the king's justices of the one bench or the other, justices in eyre, or justices of assize, and all other justices assigned to hear and determine, being in their places doing their offices. 4 Steph. Comm. 185-193; 4 Bl. Comm. 76-84. "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." U. S. Co.nst. art. 3, § 3, cl. 1. See Young v. U. S., 97 U. S. 62, 24 In Ed. 992; U. S. v. Bollman, 1 Cranch, C. C. 373, Fed. Cas. No. 14,622; U. Sv. Greathouse, 4 Sawy. 457, 2 Abb. U. S. 364, Fed. Cas. No. 15,254; U. S. v. Hanway, 2 Wall. Jr. 139, Fed. Cas. No. 15,299; U. S. v. Hoxie, 1 Paine, 265, Fed. Cas. No. 15,407; U. S. v. Pryor, 3 Wash. C. C. 234, Fed. Cas. No. 16,096.

— Constructive treason. Treason imputed to a person by law from his conduct or course of actions, though his deeds taken severally dc not amount to acfual treason. This doctrine is not known in the United States.

— High treason. In English law. Treason against the king or sovereign, as distinguished from petit or petty treason, which might formerly be committed agninst a subject. 4 Bl. Comm. 74, 75; 4 Steph. Comm. 183, 184, note.

— Misprision of treason. See Misprision.

— Petit treason. In English law. The crime committed by a wife in killing her husband, or a servant his lord or master, or an ecclesiastic his lord or ordinary. 4 Bl. Comm. 75.
—Treason-felony, under the English statute 11 & 12 Viet. c. 12, passed in 1848, is the offense of compassing, devising, etc., to depose her majesty from the crown; or to levy war in order to intimidate either house of parliament, etc., or to stir up foreigners by any printing or writing to invade the kingdom. This offense is punishable with penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, etc., under statutes 11 & 12 Vict. c. 12, § 3; 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3, § 2; 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47, § 2. By the stafute first above mentioned, the government is enabled to treat as felony many offenses which must formerly have been treated as high treason. Mozley & Whitley.

The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of a In old English law. The killing of a master by his servant, a husband by his wife, or of any person by one who owes him faith and obedience, is petit treason.

crim. law. This word imports a betraying, treachery, or breach of allegiance. 4 Bl. Com. 75. The constitution of the United States, art. 3, s. 3, defines treason against the United States to consist mies, giving them aid or comfort.(4 This offence is punished with death. Act of 30th April, 1790, 1 Story’s Laws U.S. 83. By the same article of the constitution, no person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. Vide, generally, 3 Story on the Const. ch. 39, p. 667; Serg. on the Const. ch. 30; United States v. Fries, Pamph.; 1 Tucker’s Blackst. Com. Appx. 275, 276; 3 Wils. Law Lect. 96 to 99; Foster, Disc. J.; Burr’s Trial; 4 Cranch, R. 126, 469 to 508; 2 Dall. R. 246, 355; 1 Dall. R. 35; 3 Wash. C. C. Rep. 234; 1 John. R. 553; 11 Johns. R. 549; Com. Dig. Justices, (K); 1 East, P. C. 37 to 158; 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 60 to 102; Arch. Cr. Pl. 378 to 387. ~ TREASURE-TROVE, found treasure. This name is given to such money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion, which having been hidden or concealed in the earth or other private place, so long that its owner is unknown, has been discovered by accident. Should the owner be found it must be restored to him; and in case of not finding him, the property, according to the English law, belongs to the king. In the latter case, by the civil law, when the treasure was found by the owner of the soil, he was considered as entitled to it by the double title of owner and finder; when found on another’s property, one half belonged to the owner of the estate, and the other to the finder; when found on public property it belonged onehalf to the public treasury, and the other to the finder. Lecons du Dr. Rom. § 350-352. According to the French law, le trésor est toute chose cachée ou enfouie, sur laquelle personne ne peut justifier sa proprieté, Toull. n. 34. Vide, generally, 20 Vin. Ab. 414; 7 Com. Dig. 649; 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 237; 1 Bl. Com. 295; Poth. Traité du Dr. de Propriéte, art. 4.