i.
香港總督府
CONFIDENTIAL
Enter &
resubmit with
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
HONG KONG
21 March 1980
6
Now sees
- 2 APR 1980
HKG
380/2
RO. 51
Des Dick.
INDEX
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
1.
nor
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
in
1429
4
Thank you for your letter of 11 March (HKG 380/2). I see that this was in fact a circular letter addressed to all Governors.
2.
While undoubtedly it is the overwhelming wish of the population here that the Creech-Jones doctrine should be reapplied to Hong Kong, I should be surprised if it was Ministers' intention that this should be done. The essence of this doctrine was that the Secretary of State should not advise the Queen to extend clemency to convicted murderers in dependent territories except to avoid manifest miscarriage of justice. This was the accepted doctrine for Hong Kong until 1972 when the then Sir Alec Douglas-Home advised the Queen to grant a petition for clemency on the grounds that the majority of opinion in the House would be against him if he advised otherwise.
3.
While the views of the present administration have not been tested, Mr Callaghan, Mr Crosland and Dr Owen all took a similar view to Sir Alec; that is to say that in case of appeals for clemency they would always advise granting the appeal so long as sentiment in the House remained opposed to capital punishment. On the other hand feeling on this issue in Hong Kong has been so strong that there would have been no possibility of obtaining a majority in the Legislative Council for a repeal of the death penalty, and there would have been the most bitter resentment of repeal by United Kingdom Order-inCouncil. In these circumstances, while judges have continued to condemn murderers to death, the sentence is invariably commuted by the Governor-in-Council. The situation was explained in the Colonial Secretary's statement in the Legislative Council of 6 November 1975 (a copy of which is attached).
R D Clift Esq
Hong Kong & General Department
FCO
CONFIDENTIAL
14.