The law of treason was dormant: Claudius had put 40 senators to death, but, between the murders instigated by Agrippina in 54 and the year 62, there were no like incidents in Nero's reign.
Chase was accused by the House of acting in a politically partisan manner in two trials, as US supreme court justices also served as circuit court justices during the era; specifically, the prosecutors from the House claimed that Chase "behaved in an arbitrary, oppressive, and unjust way by announcing his legal interpretation on the law of treason before defense counsel had been heard".
The law of treason, or law of majestas, was originally intended to prosecute those who had corruptly "impaired the people and majesty of Rome" by any revolutionary action.
People on both sides of the debate about the latest legislation agree that the old laws on treason and espionage were too vague.
This result, which met with pleasure due to the popular disquiet with the idea of constructive treason, left juries unwilling to apply the extended law of constructive treason; as a result, the government was forced to incorporate it into statute law.
In some respects it even marks an improvement on the existing colonial laws: the crimes of treason and sedition, for instance, are now properly defined, in terms of the commission of violence.
In 2003 plans to implement article 23 of the Basic Law – requiring the region to pass laws banning acts of "treason, secession, sedition and subversion" – were dropped after half a million took to the streets.
In 2002, the government's proposed anti-subversion bill pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law, which required the enactment of laws prohibiting acts of treason and subversion against the Chinese government, was met with fierce opposition, and eventually shelved.
In addition to the criminal procedure provisions of Article Three, the Constitutional Convention discussed piracy, crimes against the law of nations, treason, and counterfeiting.
However, an impassioned speech by Erskine, which argued that Gordon's actions were only crimes under the illegally extended law of constructive treason, led to the jury finding him not guilty.
