The Treachery Act 1940 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom effective during World War II to facilitate the prosecution and execution of enemy spies, suspended afterwards, and repealed in 1968 or 1973, territory depending. The law was passed on 23 May 1940, in the month after Nazi Germany invaded France and Winston Churchill became prime minister. Reasons for the Act The Treachery Act was deemed necessary because treason still had its own special rules of evidence and procedure which made it a difficult offence to prove and prosecute (see Treason Act 1695). The newer offence, a felony, was designed to make convictions easier as it could be proved under the same rules of evidence as ordinary offences. It was also needed because there was doubt whether the treason laws were applicable to saboteurs. In commending the Bill to the House of Commons, the Home Secretary, Sir John Anderson, explained why the law was necessary: In the House of Lords the Lord Chancellor, Viscount Simon, elaborated: The Act was always intended to be a temporary emergency measure which would be repealed after the War. It was rushed through Parliament in two weeks, passing the Lords in a few minutes and receiving royal assent on the same day. Treachery and treason The first section of the Treachery Act 1940 read: Some argue that the Act could easily have replaced the current, ancient statutes that relate to and define treason. After the war people continued to be prosecuted under the Treason Act 1351 for disloyalty during the War. Besides the laxer rules of procedure and evidence, the other main difference was the death sentence for treason was mandatory, whereas the death sentence for treachery could be commuted by the court under the Judgement of Death Act 1823. No sentences were commuted by the courts. One was commuted by the Home Secretary. Extent Breach of a duty of allegiance was not an element of treachery. Section 4 of the Act provided: "Dominion" meant any Dominion within the meaning of the Statute of Westminster 1931, except Newfoundland, and included any territory administered by the Government as a Dominion (section 5(1)). Uses of the Act Between 1940 and 1946, 19 people were executed for treachery. The first British subject to be executed under the law was George Johnson Armstrong, who was hanged at HMP Wandsworth on 10 July 1941. German agent Josef