Sedition, a general name given to such offences against the state as fall short of treason. In the law of England it is not a strictly technical word.
Writing, publishing, or uttering words tending to excite subjects to insurrection, though not urging them to rebellion or total subversion of the government, come under the denomination of seditious libel, and seditious meetings or assemblies are punishable as misdemeanours. The crime consists in the intention to excite disaffection against the sovereign, the government, or the administration of justice, or to excite the sovereign's subjects to attempt, otherwise than by lawful means, the alteration of any matter in church or state by law established, or to promote ill-will and hostility between different classes of such subjects.
In Scotland sedition is distinguished from Leasing-making (q.v.), in so far as the object of the latter is to disparage the private character of the sovereign, while the former crime is directed against the order and tranquillity of the state. The punishment of sedition, formerly arbitrary, is now restricted to fine and imprisonment. See Lord Cockburn's Trials for Sedition in Scotland (2 vols. 1888).