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High treason
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
High treason, broadly defined, is an action which is grossly disloyal to one's country or sovereign. Participating in a war against one's country, attempting to overthrow its government, and attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps the best known examples of high treason.
Historically, high treason was differentiated from petty treason, which was the act of killing a lawful superior (such as a servant killing his master or mistress). It was, in effect, considered a more serious degree of murder. The concept of petty treason gradually faded, however, and today, use of the word "treason" generally refers to the same thing as "high treason". The law of some countries does not distinguish the two — for example, the Constitution of the United States defines treason as something which, historically, would have been called high treason.
Canadian law describes two separate offences of treason and high treason, but both of these in fact fall in the historical category of high treason.
For the United States, the Constitution specifies the substantive and procedural requirements for treason in Article 3, Section 3: levying war against the United States or adhering to the enemies of the United States, proved by either confession in open court or testimony of two witnesses of the same overt act.