![]() ![]() But possibly they, too, are a little hazy about what treason is. This law offers many ways of committing treason, from attempting to kill the sovereign (the King or Queen), to violating the sovereign's eldest daughter, using force or other constraint "to intimidate or overawe both Houses or either House of Parliament," and, most important, "adhering to the sovereign's enemies, giving them aid and comfort." To this day, the authors of pastiches love to see Sherlock Holmes battling treason and espionage - and, most of all, attempts to kill the sovereign. "To treason," Holmes tells the perpetrator at the climactic point of the story, "you added the more terrible crime of murder." The reply? "Before God I swear that I did not!" True enough, for it turns out that he didn't, himself, commit the murder and stealing government documents, while it may be espionage, isn't necessarily treason.īritish legislation on the matter dates back to the Treason Act of 1351, still in effect though many times amended. Indeed, Holmes and Watson toss around the words "treason" and "traitor" throughout the Bruce-Partington tale, referring to the deeds of the unexpected villain who stole the secret submarine plans and attempted to sell them to European spies. He uses the word "treason" four times in a single story, "The Bruce-Partington Plans," and nowhere else in the Canon, though it turns up once in a metaphorical context in The Valley of Fear. ![]() Regrettably, it seems possible that Sherlock Holmes (who had, according to Watson in A Study in Scarlet, "a good practical knowledge of British law") didn't know either. The word "treason" has been tossed around in a political context quite a lot in recent months, and sometimes, I'm afraid, by people who don't know precisely what it means. ![]()
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