Sedition - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition sedition

Definition :

Sedition, an offence against the Crown and govern-ment, not capital, and not amounting to treason. It cannot be tried at Quarter Sessions. See the (English) Unlawful Assemblies Act, 1799 (39 Geo. 3, c. 79); the (English) Seditious Meetings Act, 1817 (57 Geo. 3, c. 19), jointly called the '(English) Corresponding Societies Acts,' and much resembl-ing one another. Registered friendly societies are exempted by s. 32 of the (English) Friendly Societies Acts, 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 25), if transact-ing no business not relating to the objects of the societies; and the (English) Criminal Libel Act, 1819 (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4, c. 8). By the (English) Act of 1817, s. 23, which has no parallel in the Act of 1799, political meetings of more than fifty persons within one mile of Westminster Hall, except for parliamentary election purposes, are declared unlawful on any day on which Parliament is sitting. By s. 25 of the Act of 1817, and s. 2 of the Act of 1799, every society or club, the members of which subscribe to any test or declaration not required or authorized by law, is declared to be an illegal society, and by s. 2 of the Act of 1799 the same character is impressed on:-

Every society of which the names of the members or of any of them shall be kept secret from the society at large, or which shall have any committee or select body so chosen or appointed that the members constituting the same shall not be known by the society at large to be members of such committee or select body, or which shall have any president, treasurer, secretary, delegate, or other officer so chosen or appointed that the election of such persons to such offices shall not be known to the society at large, or of which the names of all the members and of all committees or select bodies of members, and all presidents, treasures, secretaries, delegates, and other officers shall not be entered in a book or books to be kept for that purpose, and to be open to the inspection of all the members of such society; and every society which shall be composed of different divisions or branches, or of different parts acting in any manner separately or distinct from each other, or of which any part shall have any separate or distinct president, secretary, treasurer, delegate, or other officer, elected or appointed by or for such part, or to act as an officer for such part.

On verdict or judgment by default against any per-son for composing, printing, or publishing any seditious libel 'tending to bring into hatred or contempt' the person of the sovereign; or the Government and constitution of the United Kingdom as bylaw established or either House of Parliament,' or to excite the public 'to attempt the alteration of any matter in Church or State as bylaw established, otherwise than by lawful means,' the Court may make an order for the seizure of all copies of the libel, etc. See also (English) Fire Arms Act, 1920, s. 16, amending the (English) Unlawful Drilling Act, 1819 (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4, c. 1), prohibiting any meeting for purposes of drill without authority of the Crown or a Secretary of State or deputed officer, and see the Public Order Act, 1936. Consult Odgers on Libel, 5th Edn. p. 516.

Sedition is a crime against society nearly allied to that of treason, and it frequently precedes treason by a short interval. Sedition in itself is a comprehensive term, and it embraces all those practices, whether by word, deed, or writing, which are calculated to disturb the tranquility of the State, and lead ignorant persons to endeavour to subvert the Government and laws of the country. The objects of sedition generally are to induce discontent and insurrection, and stir up opposition to the Government, and bring the administration of justice into contempt; and the very tendency of sedition is to incite the people to insurrection and rebellion, Nazir Khan v. State of Delhi, (2003) 8 SCC 461 (488). [Indian Penal Code, s. 124A]

Means speaking or writing of words calculated to excite disaffection against the Constitution as by law established, to procure the alteration of it by other than lawful means, or to incite any person to commit a crime to the disturbance of peace, or to raise discontent or disaffection or to promote ill-feeling between different classes of the community. A charge of sedition is, historically, one of the chief means by which Government, especially at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, strove to put down hostiles critics. It is evident that the vagueness of the charge is a danger to the liberty of the subject, especially if the courts of justice can be induced to take a view favourable to Government, the Book of English Law, 1967, p. 136.

Sedition, must only bring the authorities into hatred, contempt or disaffection but should generate or excite such an amount of intense hatred, contempt or disaffection as may lead to tumult or public disorder, Pratap New Delhi v. Crown, AIR 1949 EP 305: (1949) 51 Pat LR 234.