Punishment of Offences Act 1837

Punishment of Offences Act 1837[1]
Long titleAn Act for abolishing the Punishment of Death in certain Cases.
Citation7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 91
Dates
Royal assent17 July 1837
Commencement1 October 1837[2]
Repealed21 July 2008[3] (United Kingdom)
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes1 Jas. 1 Plague Act 1603 c. 31
Amended by
Repealed byRepealed as to the United Kingdom by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2008
Status: Repealed
Text of the Punishment of Offences Act 1837 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Punishment of Offences Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 91) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It abolished the death penalty for a number of statutory offences and replaced it with transportation for life.

This Act originally extended to the United Kingdom (which then included the whole of Ireland).

This Act was retained for the Republic of Ireland by section 2(2)(a) of, and Part 4 of Schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 2007.

This Act was repealed as to New Zealand by section 412(1) of, and the Fourth Schedule to, the Crimes Act 1961.

  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. ^ The Punishment of Offences Act 1837, section 5
  3. ^ The repealing Act came into force on the day that it received royal assent because no other date was specified: the Interpretation Act 1978, section 4