The attorney general is to ask the Law Lords to hear his appeal against a lower court decision that allowed a challenge to the Treason Felony Act to proceed. The Act makes it unlawful for anyone to call in print for replacement of Britain's monarchy by a democratic system.
The Guardian newspaper is asking the High Court to rule that the Act is incompatible with the guarantee of freedom of expression in the European Convention. The High Court had refused to hear the case but the newspaper appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal. That court referred the Guardian's original application back to the High Court for a full hearing. It is this decision that the attorney general wishes to appeal against.
Although the law has not been used in recent times it allows a sentence of life imprisonment to be imposed on anyone who calls for the end of Britain?s monarchy. Members of Parliament have always been prevented from discussing this.