Arson in royal dockyards

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Arson in royal dockyards was among the last offences that was punishable by execution in the United Kingdom. It remained a capital offence even after the death penalty was abolished for murder, although there is no evidence that anyone was ever actually executed for it. The Criminal Law Consolidation Act of 1861 removed various capital offences from the British statute-books, leaving only four, of which arson in royal dockyards was one. In a speech in the House of Lords in 1998, Lord Goodhart stated that this offence disappeared from the list of capital crimes in 1971 "without, so far as I am aware, either comment or concern." [1]