from henceforth none be so hardy to tell or publish any false News or Tales, whereby discord or occasion of discord or slander may grow berween the King and his People, or the Great Men of the Realm.
(The first Statute of Westminster of 1275)
...where a man doth compasse or imagine the death of the King, the Kings Wife, the eldest Sonne, and Heire apparent, if it appeare by any overt act, it is Treason... where a man doth perswade or withdraw any of the Kings Subjects from his obedience, or from the religion by his Majestie established, with intent to withdraw any from the Kings obedience, it is Treason...
(Francis Bacon, Cases of Treason, 1641)
If any be convicted or attayned for speaking maliciously of his own imagination any false seditious and slanderous words sayeth or talketh of the King or Queen be sett on the pillory in some market place neere where the words were spoken, and have both his ears cutt off and also three months of imprisonment. This statute confirmed in the first year of Elizabeth...
(Written on the back of the Middlesex gaol delivery book, 1640)