Escape of Traitors Act 1572
The Escape of Traitors Act 1572, full title An Act against such as shall conspire or practice the enlargement of any prisoner committed for high treason, was an act of the Parliament of England enacted during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The act was passed alongside the Rebellion Act 1572, and together they formed part of the response to the 1571 Ridolfi Plot to overthrow the Queen. The two acts expanded the definition of treason and high treason, bringing a number of new offences into being as capital crimes. Along with the earlier Treasons Act 1571, and the later Coin Act 1575, they were part of a broader move to define treason as more than simply an attack on the person of the monarch.
Provisions
The act provided that it was henceforth a crime to "conspire... to set at liberty" any person imprisoned on the Queen's orders for treason against the Queen's person. If the conspiracy to release the prisoner was made before the prisoner had been indicted, the conspirator was guilty of misprision of treason; if the prisoner was between indictment and conviction, the conspirator was guilty of felony; and if the prisoner had already been convicted, the conspirator was guilty of high treason. The act came into force from the end of that session of Parliament and remained in force until the death of Elizabeth, when it expired.Penalties for breach of the Act would be imprisonment ; execution by hanging ; or being hanged, drawn and quartered if male or burned at the stake if female.