CONFIDENTI AL
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No. 51
22 JUL 1977
CABINET
DEFENCE AND OVERSEA POLICY COMMITTEE
•HKG 3
(69)
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CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
Brief for the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
1. The following paragraphs expand on points raised in the DOP Memorandum of 15 July DOP(77)19 (references are to the Memorandum):
The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man (paragraph 2)
2. Capital cases are automatically referred to the Home Secretary in his position as Privy Councillor responsible for the Islands. The Home Secretary advises The Queen on the exercise of the prerogative of mercy and in practice all death sentences passed in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have been commuted since the death penalty for murder was suspended in the UK.
"Creech Jones" formula (paragraph 2)
3. The following are relevant extracts from Mr Arthur Creech Jones' written reply of 11 August 1947 (Vol 441 Cols 230-233 copy attached) concerning the exercise of the prerogative of mercy:
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"The normal practice of the Secretary of State for the Colonies is himself not to intervene in an individual case and not tó advise His Majesty to intervene. There would be most unfortunate results if the Secretary of State followed any other course. First it would be necessary for him to consider fully the facts of each case and all the considerations which bore upon it. .... but further, and more important, for the Secretary of State to intervene would conflict with the plain intention of the constitutional instruments ... which set up a better machinery for deciding these matters than anything the Secretary of State could do here; and would be contrary to the common sense of the situation, since the Governor, knowing of the circumstances, is in a better position to judge whether the prerogative of mercy should be exercised in any particular case,
CONFIDENTIAL