Judgment of Death Act 1823

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.

Judgment of Death Act 1823^[1]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for enabling Courts to abstain from pronouncing Sentence of Death in certain Capital Felonies.
Citation	4 Geo. 4. c. 48
Territorial extent	England and Wales Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	4 July 1823
Other legislation
Amended by	Statute Law Revision Act 1888
Repealed by	Courts Act 1971 (England and Wales) Statute Law Revision Act 1983 (Republic of Ireland)
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Act was repealed in England and Wales by the Courts Act 1971,^[2] in the Republic of Ireland by the Statute Law Revision Act 1983^[3] and repealed in 1980 in Northern Ireland.^{[citation needed]}