Petty treason or petit treason was an offence under the common law of England in which a person killed or otherwise violated the authority of a social superior, other than the king.
[citation needed] The element of betrayal is the reason why this crime was considered worse than an ordinary murder; medieval and post-medieval society rested on a framework in which each person had his or her appointed place and such murders were seen as threatening this framework.
Many people had somebody subordinate to them and feared the consequences if the murder of superiors was not punished harshly.
In later years the law offered a modicum of mercy to women who were to be executed in this fashion: the executioner was equipped with a cord passed around the victim's throat and, standing outside of the fire, would pull it tight, strangling her before the flames could reach her.
[5] The common law defence of provocation, by which a verdict of murder could be reduced to manslaughter, was also available in petty treason trials.