(17260) Dd.897459 400m 12/72 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
(16940) Dd.897300 400m 9/72 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
...In Confidence
BACKGROUND NOTE
DRAFT
To:-
THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION
Type 1 +
FROM
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
There is no written Constitution for the
Colony of Hong Kong. The Governor administers
the Colony, assisted by an Executive Council and
a Legislative Council, in accordance with the
powers vested in him by the Letters Patent and
Royal Instructions.
(Extract attached)..
Under these Royal Instructions, the Governor
has delegated responsibility for the exercise of
the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Her Majesty,
however, still retains a residual Prerogative of
Mercy and it is possible for a condemned man from
a dependent territory to petition beyond a Governor
to The Queen.
The procedure in such cases in the past has
always been that the Secretary of State will always
advise Her Majesty not to intervene except in the
very rare case of an apparent miscarriage of justice.
the This procedure was not followed in recent case of
* Hong Kong when, because of the
Parliamentary situation in the Uniteti Kin con at
that time, the condemned man was reprieved by Her
fjusty on the advice of the Secretary of State.