CONFIDENTIAL ·
Review
Review would involve the introduction of a new procedure.
It has the advantage
and
of avoiding the disturbances that abolition would cause as it would not be, would not be referred to as, a means of suspending capital punishment absolutely. In advising The Queen on Her use of Her prerogative of mercy the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary would in future include considerations relevant to Parliament in the United Kingdom and also Her responsibilities to the dependencies as a whole. This procedure is the same as that for the Home Secretary in his similar duty in respect to the Channel Islands and Isle of
Man.
If review were to be considered two alternatives procedures could achieve it
iv.
Removal from Governors of power to exercise Prerogative of Mercy
Such a course would have the advantage that it would not need any change in locally enacted legislation and would avoid a situation whereby a Governor's retention of the prerogative would be seen locally to be ineffective. In the territories (Cayman, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands) where the Prerogative of Mercy is devolved by Royal Instructions its removal would seem to be the most suitable method of avoiding the use of the death penalty. However, where the devolution is enshrined in the constitution of a DOT its removal would require constitu- tional amendment. Moreover, such an amendment would almost certainly be abhorrent to the local governments and the British Government could only make it unilaterally in the face of such opposition. By agreement with Bermuda no amendment can be made to the Bermuda Constitution without consulting the Bermuda Government, which, it must be assumed, would refuse to consider it. This course would result in the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary having to review every capital case in the relevant territories:
In this case, the but this would probably not prove too burdensome. present Advisory Councils on the Prerogative of Mercy of the territories should be retained to advise the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary.
Not so!
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CONFIDENTIAL