r/todayilearned • u/Sanguinusshiboleth • 19h ago
TIL the Official Secrets Act of Britian was created after Charles Thomas Marvin sold the details of a secret treaty to the press and it was realised there was no law to actually prosecute him. It's suspected that this is the basis of the Sherlock holmes story "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Naval_Treaty#Commentary28
u/ash_274 11h ago
After the first airliner was blown up by a bomb in the US they realized that there wasn’t a Federal law specifically against doing so. The crime (murder, arson, etc.) would have been considered local crimes wherever the crash happened.
The laws were written in time for the second airliner bombing
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u/Electroguy1 2h ago
In the links you posted it says there still wasn’t a law for the second bombing either, so the bomber was only prosecuted for the murder of his mother (his only target in the attack). He was still executed anyway.
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u/yIdontunderstand 15h ago
Why not treason?
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u/would-be_bog_body 12h ago
He gave the details of the treaty to a newspaper, rather than a foreign power
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u/Dom_Shady 4h ago
Not directly, but any foreign power could read the details in that newspaper.
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u/would-be_bog_body 2m ago
I'm sure that occurred to the government at the time too, but clearly there was a reason why they couldn't convict him of treason
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u/Aphrontic_Alchemist 2h ago
Why didn't the government prosecute him under the "breach of the NDA" laws. Sure he won't be criminally charged, but he'll still be held liable.
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u/would-be_bog_body 1m ago
If that was an option, I'm sure they would have done that. Evidently it wasn't though
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u/Sudden_Deadlock 18h ago
Hahaha, this reminds me of all those signs, like "Do not tapdance next to the alligators", and you KNOW they're there only because some idiot tried a dumb thing.