Legal Definition and Related Resources of Sedition

The wilful and knowing utterance, writing , or publication of disloyal, scurrilous , or abusive matter against the United States or a state , or the flag, military forces, or uniform of the nation , which matter is designed and calculated to bring them into contempt , which advocates, incites, fosters, or inquiries antagonism, opposition and hostility to organized government , or matter which obstructs or interferes with the national recruiting or enlistment services. See Gilbert v Minnesota, 254 U.S. 325, 41 S.Ct. 125, 65 L.Ed. 287.

In criminal law. The raising commotions or disturbances in the state. 195 Mich. 293. It is a revolt against legitimate authority. Ersk. Inst. 4. 4. 14; Dig. 49. 16. 3. § 19, not amounting to insurrection. Excitement of discontent against the government, or of resistance to lawful authority; conduct tending to treason, but without an overt act. 195 Mich. 293. The distinction between “sedition” and “treason” consists in this, that though the ultimate object of sedition is a violation of the public peace, or at least such a course of measures as evidently engenders it, yet it does not aim at direct and open violence against the laws, or the subversion of the constitution. Alls. Crim. Law, 580. The obnoxious act of July 14, 1798 (1 Story, U. S, Laws, 543), was called the “sedition law,” because Its profesged object was to prevent disturbances. In the Scotch law, sedition is either verbal or real. Verbal is inferred from the uttering of words tending to create discord between the king and his people; real sedition is generally committed by convocating together any considerable number of people, without lawful authority, uiider the pretense of redressing some public grievance, to the disturbing of the public peace. Ersk. Inst. 4, 4. 14.

noun

• apostasy
• defection
• defiance
• desertion
• disloyalty
• disobedience
• dissidence
• infidelity
• infraction
• insubordination
• insurgence
• insurrection
• motus
• mutiny
• noncompliance
• overthrow
• rebellion
• recreance
• recreancy
• recusancy
• resistance to authority
• revolt
• revolution
• riot
• rising
• seditio
• seditiousness
• subversion
• tergiversation
• treachery
• treason
• underground activity
• uprising
• violation
• Associated Concepts: alien and sedition acts
• seditious libel

Browse or run a search for Sedition in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Sedition in Historical Law

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This definition of Sedition is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

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Sedition in the Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims

Latin seditio, a going apart, dissention. Conduct tending toward treason, but wanting an overt act; attempts made, by meetings or speeches, or by publications, to disturb the tranquillity of the state, which do not amount to treason. Abbott’s Law Dictionary. Called seditious conspiracies and libels.

Note: This legal definition of Sedition in the Dictionary of Law (English and American Jurisprudence) is from 1893.

Sedition in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of sedition.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Police
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• sedition in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• sedition in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A
  Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

Sedition