Section.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 25TH OCTOBER, 1890.
Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890.
[53 & 54 VICT. CH. 37.]
ARRANGEMent of sECTIONS.
1. Exercise of jurisdiction in foreign country.
2.
Exercise of jurisdiction over British subjects in countries without regular
Governments.
3. Validity of acts done in pursuance of jurisdiction.
4.
Evidence as to existence or extent of jurisdiction in foreign country.
5. Power to extend enactments in First Schedule.
6.
Power to send persons charged with offences for trial to a British possession.
7. Provision as to place of punishment of persons convicted.
A
8. Validity of acts done under Order in Council.
9.
Power to assign jurisdiction to British courts in cases within Foreign Juris-
diction Act.
10. Power to amend Orders in Council.
11. Laying before Parliament, and effect of Orders in Council.
12.
In what cases Orders in Council void for repugnancy,
13. Provisions for protection of persons acting under Foreign Jurisdiction Acts.
14. Jurisdiction over ships in certain Eastern seas.
15. Provision as to subjects of Indian princes.
16.
17.
Definitions.
Power to repeal or vary Acts in Second Schedule. 18. Repeal.
19. Short title.
SCHEDULES.
1071
A.D. 1890.
WH
CHAPTER 37.
An Act to consolidate the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts.
[4th August 1890.] "HEREAS by treaty, capitulation, grant, usage, sufferance, and other lawful means, Her Majesty the Queen has jurisdiction within divers foreign countries, and it is expedient to consolidate the Acts relating to the exercise of Her Majesty's jurisdiction out of Her dominions:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
A.D. 1890.
1. It is and shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen to hold, exercise, and enjoy Exercise of juris- any jurisdiction which Her Majesty now has or may at any time hereafter have within
a foreign country in the same and as ample a manner as if Her Majesty had acquired that jurisdiction by the cession or conquest of territory.
2. Where a foreign country is not subject to any government from whom Her Majesty the Queen might obtain jurisdiction in the manner recited by this Act, Her Majesty shall by virtue of this Act have jurisdiction over Her Majesty's subjects for the time being resident in or resorting to that country, and that jurisdiction shall be juris- diction of Her Majesty in a foreign country within the meaning of the other provisions of this Act.
3. Every act and thing done in pursuance of any jurisdiction of Her Majesty in a foreign country shall be as valid as if it had been done according to the local law then in force in that country.
4. If in any proceeding, civil or criminal, in a court in Her Majesty's dominions or held under the authority of Her Majesty any question arises as to the existence or extent of any jurisdiction of Her Majesty in a foreign country, a Secretary of State shall, on the application of the court, send to the court within a reasonable time his decision on the question, and his decision shall for the purposes of the proceeding be final.
(2.) The court shall send to the Secretary of State, in a document under the seal of the court, or signed by a judge of the court, questions framed so as properly to raise the question, and sufficient answers to those questions shall be returned by the Secretary of State to the court, and those answers shall, on production thereof, be conclusive evidence of the matters therein contained.
diction in foreign country.
Exercise of juris- British subjects in countries governments.
diction over
without regular
Validity of acts done in pursuance of jurisdiction.
Evidence as to
existence or extent of juris-
diction in foreign country.