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Judgment of Death Act 1823 [1]
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for enabling Courts to abstain from pronouncing Sentence of Death in certain Capital Felonies.
Citation 4 Geo. 4. c. 48
Territorial extent 
Dates
Royal assent4 July 1823
Other legislation
Repealed by
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Judgment of Death Act 1823 ( 4 Geo. 4. c. 48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (although it did not apply to Scotland). Passed at a time when there were over 200 offences in English law which carried a mandatory sentence of death, it gave judges the discretion to pass a lesser sentence for the first time. It did not apply to treason or murder. The Act required judges to enter a sentence of death on the court record, but then allowed them to commute the sentence to imprisonment.

The Act was repealed in England and Wales by the Courts Act 1971, [2] in the Republic of Ireland by the Statute Law Revision Act 1983 [3] and repealed in 1980 in Northern Ireland.[ citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
  2. ^ Courts Act 1971, Schedule 11: Repeals, Part IV
  3. ^ Statute Law Revision Act 1983, Schedule: Repeals, Part IV

Further reading