Many books, plays and articles have been written over the last one hundred years concerning the life and death of Roger Casement, the great Irish patriot—who has been described as the “father of 20th century human rights investigations“—was knighted by the British authorities in 1911 for his investigations into human rights abuses in the Congo and Peru while he worked as a British Consul.
Scurrilous attacks to destroy his reputation have been made about his sexuality by the British state and its side-kicks. These attacks have been valiantly resisted by Irish writers and especially the tenacious writers of the Irish Political Review!
Now we need to examine his trial for treason in London following the Easter Rising of 1916.
To the utter astonishment of the present writer, the topic of Casement’s trial and conviction appeared as a “video short“ (1.54 minutes) on his YouTube feed. This video dealt with the legal chicanery employed by the British State to ensure that Roger Casement was convicted and executed.
In 1914 Casement went to Germany in an effort to secure military support for Irish independence. Not fully satisfied with the support promised, he returned to Ireland in April 1916 in a German submarine to try and convince the republican leadership to call off the Easter Rising.
After landing in Kerry he was arrested and brought to London, where he was tried in the High Court for high treason.
Since the crime he was accused of had occurred in Germany, Casement’s defence hinged on statutory interpretation of the Treason Act 1351, which had been translated from Norman French to state:
“If a man do levy War against our Lord the King in his Realm, or be adherent to the King’s enemies in his Realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the Realm, or elsewhere, and thereof be probably attained of open deed”.
It was argued that this meant that the offence of treason included levying war against the King in his Realm,or supporting the King’s enemies (located in the Realm, or elsewhere) by giving them “aid and comfort” in the Realm.
However, in the Casement trial, the Court omitted the comma after ‘Realm, or elsewhere,’ and interpreted the statute to include a third offence: of giving aid and comfort to the King’s enemies outside Britain—effectively anywhere on Earth.
As such,Casement was sentenced to death by hanging after being found guilty of “ High Treason “ by adhering to the King’s enemies elsewhere than in the King’s realm to wit: in the Empire of Germany. And this was contrary to the literal wording in the legislation relied upon: the Treason Act 1351. This provided the legal cover for Roger Casement wo be hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, on 3rd August 1916.
Following his trial and conviction Roger Casement is reported to have said to his lawyers: “Hanged by a comma”.
Padraig O Horgain
Willis Walshe adds: I think the same legal point arose in the trial of William Joyce/Lord Haw Haw in September 1945.
