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local legislation to abolish the death penalty. This has invariably met resistance whenever governors have tried to influence the debate. Local Ministers do not wish to be seen supporting such a change. Nor do they wish to endorse the action of a governor when he does commute.
iii) To direct Governors to commute in every case where the advice they have received from their local Mercy Committee (in some cases ExCo) opposes the exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy. To instruct Governors in this fashion has been dubbed "back-door abolition", since it would purport to change the law of each Dependent Territory by executive action and would conflict with their constitutions where the prerogative of mercy is devolved locally. It would also require the renunciation of the convention known as the Creech-Jones doctrine (formally enunciated to Parliament in 1947 in reply to a PQ) under which the Prerogative of Mercy is delegated to Governors by the Sovereign on the grounds that the Governor is best placed to know in the light of local circumstances whether the prerogative should be exercised. In Dependent Territories where someone from off-island has committed a murder, public opinion usually opposes clemency.
7. A variant of iii) has worked successfully in Hong Kong since 1973, although whether it will continue to be tolerated when the legislature becomes more
representative in 1991 remains to be seen. It has been the practice since 1973 (when the Commons were debating capital punishment in Northern Ireland) for the Governor of Hong to commute death sentences on the grounds that the Executive Council, not being responsible to the legislature, could not advise the Governor against exercising the prerogative of mercy. (Exco is asked to advise what alternative sentence they would propose if the Governor commutes a death sentence but not whether the sentence itself should be commuted). Unlike Hong Kong, however, the Caribbean DTs and Bermuda already have fully elected legislatures. It would be constitutionally improper to enforce commutation by executive action, unless their constitutions were changed to withold the right of each Mercy Committee to be consulted. This would create political resentment locally. The Hong Kong precedent does not provide a solution.
8. Timing is chiefly determined by the impending
Criminal Justice Bill. An advisory referendum on capital
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