Traitor

Traitor [fr. traditor, Lat.], one who, being trusted, betrays; one guilty of treason. See TREASON....

Traitor's Gate

Traitor's Gate, the river gate of the Tower of London by which traitors, and state prisoners generally, were committed to the Tower, Oxf. Dict...

Quartering traitors. The judgment for high treason, as prescribed by 54 Geo. 3, c. 146, s. 1, was that the head of the person after death by hanging should be severed from his body, and the body, divided into four quarters, should be disposed of as the sovereign should think fit; but this portion of the Act is repealed by the (English) Forfeiture Act, 1870, s. 31....

Treason

Treason [fr. trahir, Fr., to betray; proditio, Lat.], or leze-majesty, an offence against the duty of allegiance, and the highest known crime, for it aims at the very destruction of the commonwealth itself. Five species of treason are declared by the Treason Act, 1351, or 'Statute of Treasons' (25 Edw. 3, st. 5, c. 2), as follows:-(1) When a man doth compass or imagine the death of our lord the king (a queen regnant is within these words), of our lady his queen or of their eldest son and heir.(2) If a man do violate the king's companion (i.e., his wife), or the king's eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the king's eldest son and heir.(3) If a man do levy war against our lord the king in his realm. (After a battle has taken place, it is termed bellum percussum; before it, bellum levatum.)(4) If a man be adherent to the king's enemies in his realm, giving to them aid or comfort in the realm or elsewhere.(5) If a man slay the chancellor, treasurer, or the king's justices assigned to...

Reus lasa majestatis punitur, ut pereat unus ne pereant omnes

Reus lasa majestatis punitur, ut pereat unus ne pereant omnes (4 Co. 124) a traitor is punished that one and not all may perish....

Serjeant

Serjeant [fr. serviens, Lat.], used in several senses:-A feudal tenure by knight service due only to king, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.(1) Serjeants-at-law, or of the coif (servientes ad legem), otherwise called serjeants counter, the highest degree in the Common Law, as doctors in the Civil Law; but, according to Spelman, a doctor of law is superior to a serjeant, for the very name of a doctor is magisterial, but that of a serjeant is only ministerial. Serjeants-at-law were made by the sovereign's writ, addressed unto such as are called, commanding them to take upon them that degree by a certain day, Fortescue, c. 50; 3 Cro. 1; Dyer, 72; 2 Inst. 213.The monopoly of exclusive audience enjoyed by the serjeants in the Court of Common Pleas, during term time, ineffectually attempted to be abolished by Royal Warrant in 1834 [see In the Matter of the Serjeants-at-law, (1840) 6 Bing NC 235], was abolished in 1846 by 9 & 10 Vict. c. 54.The judges of the Common Law Courts were formerly req...

Treacher, Trechetour, or Treachour

Treacher, Trechetour, or Treachour, a traitor....

Proditor

Proditor, a traitor. Obsolete....

Local allegiance

Local allegiance, such as is due from an alien or stranger born, as long as he continues within the sovereign's dominions and protection; it ceases the instant such stranger transfers himself from this kingdom to another. But if an alien, seeking the protection of the Crown, and having a family and effects here, should, during a war with his native country, go thither, and there adhere to our enemies for purposes of hostility, he may be dealt with as a traitor, Fost. 115. See ALIEN....

Arma reversata

Arma reversata, reversed arms, a punishment for a traitor or felon, Cowel....

Traitor - Law Dictionary Search Results