Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Terrorism definition

What does Terrorism mean? In legal practice, terrorism describes the use or threat of serious harmful acts intended to influence government or intimidate the public, carried out for a political, religious, racial or ideological cause. In the UK, the statutory definition in the Terrorism Act 2000 covers action involving serious violence, serious damage to property, endangering life, creating a serious risk to public health or safety, or serious interference with or disruption of an electronic system; it has extra‑territorial reach. The concept underpins offences of preparation, encouragement, membership and support of proscribed organisations, terrorist financing and asset‑freezing, and powers such as arrest, detention and...

Practitioner overview of UK counter-terrorism law: definition, offences, powers, Prevent duties, HRA challenges, court procedure and sentencing

Published by a LexisNexis Public Law expert

Practice notes

terrorism law in the UK spans both common law and statute, encompassing a broad range of criminal offences and civil powers. The Terrorism Act 2000 (TA 2000) was crafted to serve as a comprehensive structure for counter-terrorism powers. Following the 9/11 attacks, however, the TA 2000 framework was revised and reinforced by additional legislation:

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ACSA 2001)
Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (PTA 2005)—subsequently repealed by the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011, s 1 (see below)
Terrorism Act 2006 (TA 2006)
Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 (CTA 2008)
Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc Act 2010 (TAFA 2010)
Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011 (TPIMA 2011)
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PFA 2012)
Justice and Security Act 2013 (JSA 2013)
Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (CTSA 2015)
Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 (CTBSA 2019)
Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act 2021 (CTSA 2021)

The statutory definition of terrorism

Section 1 of the TA 2000, as amended, defines ‘terrorism’ as:

the use or threat of action where the action:
- involves serious violence against a person...

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Eric Metcalfe

Monckton Chambers

Eric Metcalfe is a barrister at Monckton Chambers specialising in public law, EU law and human rights. Called to the Bar in 1999, he spent almost nine years as the director of human rights policy at JUSTICE before joining Monckton in 2011. He is listed by the Legal 500 as a leading junior in the field of Civil Liberties and Human Rights. His most recent cases include R(Public Law Project) v Secretary of State for Justice [2014] EWHC 2365 (Admin) and Bingham Centre v Information Commissioner (EA/2014/0097), and he is currently instructed by Liberty in proceedings before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal against the UK intelligence services.PublicationsContributor to the Rights and Freedoms volume of the 5th edition of Halsbury’s Laws (LexisNexis, 2013).Editor in Chief of the Human Rights Law Reports - UK Cases (Sweet &...

Imogen Proud

Monckton Chambers

Imogen is a barrister at Monckton Chambers with a particular interest in public law and human rights. Imogen has worked on matters including: the challenge by Labour Party members excluded from voting in the 2016 Labour leadership election on the basis that they had not been members for more than 6 months (Evangelou and others v Labour Party);alleged hacker Lauri Love’s landmark successful opposition to the National Crime Agency’s application for encryption keys for protected data on his computers (Lauri Love v NCA);the Home Secretary’s appeal in a challenge to the data retention powers in DRIPA 2014 brought by MPs David Davis and Tom Watson (SSHD v Davis and others);a judicial review of the Metropolitan Police in relation to its witness protection programme;a judicial review of a Clinical Commissioning Group’s refusal to fund a medication trial;a judicial review of the Housing...

Alistair Grainger

25 Bedford Row

Called to the bar in 1998. Practiced as a criminal solicitor 2002 – 2005. Returned to the bar in 2005 in a mixture of employed and independent practice. Tenant at 25 Bedford Row exclusively defence since 2020....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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