1.
1. General
There are 12 elected members of the Legislative Council, who, with the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary and the Attorney-General as
ex officio members, are under the presidency of an elected Speaker. These changes, as can be seen when comparing with the initial report, came about as a result of the coming into force of St. Helena's new Constitution Order on 1 January 1989. Five of the elected members are nominated by the Legislative Council and appointed by the Governor as chairmen of the five Council Committees Agricultural and Natural Resources, Education, Public Health, Public Works and Services and Social Services. The chairmen are also members of the Executive Council.
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2. St. Helena has a considerable body of local law to deal with local conditions. The St. Helena legislation is supplemented by basic English law which, as it stood on 1 January 1987, is in force in St. Helena "subject to, and save in so far as it is not inconsistent with any specific law" of St. Helena.
3.
Criminal law is administered by benches of magistrates selected on rota from a panel. The present panel comprises 18 magistrates of whom two are not island-born St. Helenians. The chairman of the magistrates is elected at the annual justices meeting, the present chairman being an Islander by virtue of his being resident on the Island for a period exceeding seven years. Sentences of imprisonment of over six months have to be confirmed by the Supreme Court.
4. Non-contentious matters in the Supreme Court are dealt with by the Governor or an acting judge under the powers vested in them by section 46 of the St. Helena Constitution Order, 1988.
5.
2°
Information relating to articles in parts I, II and III of the Covenant
The following information is supplementary to that provided in the United Kingdom's first and second report on St. Helena and given by the United Kingdom delegation at the meetings of the Human Rights Committee which discussed these reports. Articles in relation to which no new legislative or administrative develoments have occurred are not included in this report. Inclusion of particular points does not necessarily mean that the United Kingdom considers that they fall within the scope of particular articles of the Covenant.
Article 1
Mr. Walter Wallace, Special Adviser to the United Kingdom on Dependent Territories, visited St. Helena in October 1987 to conduct a review of the Constitution. After wide consultation which included both oral and written representations, Mr. Wallace was able to come to the conclusion that a constitutional change was needed. In the light of that outcome, a new Constitution was drafted, and after further deliberations was brought into force on 1 January 1989. The new Constitution gives legislative councillors wider powers in determining the affairs of the Island, and also gives civil