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SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
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Department
DSR 11
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
NOTE BY THE LEGAL ADVISER TO THE FOREIGN AND
COMMONWEALTH OFFICE, WRITTEN IN CONSULTATION WITH OFFICIALS
OF THE LORD CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE, THE HOME OFFICE AND THE
LAW OFFICERS' DEPARTMENT
Introduction
1.
Capital punishment for murder is imposed by the law
of the following dependent overseas territories (DOTs):
Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman
Islands, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands and
Hong Kong. It is also embodied in the laws of the five
West Indies Associated States (including Anguilla) and in
the law of Southern Rhodesia.
Methods of Securing Abolition or Suspension of Capital Punishment
2.
Abolition or suspension of capital punishment in
any of the DOT's concerned could be effected by means of
an enactment of the local legislature, an Act of the
United Kingdom Parliament, or (except in the case of
Belize, Bermuda and Montserrat) an Order in Council.
In the Associated States (apart from Anguilla) abolition
or suspension could be effected only by the local
legislature, while United Kingdom legislation for
Southern Rhodesia would of course in present circumstances
/be
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