THE HONGKong governMENT GAZETTE, 20TH NOVEMBER, 1875.
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Recognizances XVI. Whenever any person enters into any recognizance or (other than as crown bond (except recognizances entered into for appearance to Supreme before the Supreme Court) before any Magistrate, Justice of the Court) to be
Peace, or any Officer of Police, and such bond or recognizance estreated in
becomes forfeited, a Magistrate may summon the person (S. 11 of 6 of bound by the said recognizance or bond before him, and on 1862.)
satisfactory proof of forfeiture or breach of condition, may order the said recognizance or bond to be estreated, and may issue his warrant to levy the amount or penalty of the said recog- nizance or bond by distress upon the goods, chattels, lands, and tenements of the defaulter, and in case there shall be no sufficient goods, chattels, lands, or tenements to satisfy the amount of the distress warrant, may order that the defaulter be imprisoned for any term not exceeding three months.
Imprisonment for non-pay- ment of fines under Ord. 14 of 1845. (S. 12 of 6 of 1862.)
XVII. Whenever a Magistrate awards a pecuniary penalty or amends for any offence under Ordinance No. 14 of 1845, and the same is not paid forthwith, the Magistrate may commit the offender to prison for any term not exceeding three months, unless the sum remaining unpaid be sooner paid.
Protecting XVIII. If any Magistrate has, since the passing of the Ordi- Magistrates in nance No. 6 of 1862, heard, tried and determined in a summary respect of any excess of way any crime, misdemeanour, or offence, which was not within jurisdiction.
the
powers and jurisdiction exerciseable by him under the said Ordinance, or Ordinance No. 1 of 1863, but was within the powers and jurisdiction formerly had and exercised by the Court of Petty Sessions, every such hearing, trial and determi- nation, if in other respects according to law, is hereby declared to be good and valid; and all Magistrates, Gaolers and other per- sons whatsoever are hereby indemnified and held harmless in respect of every act, matter, or thing done by them, or any of them, in pursuance of any hearing, trial, or determination hereby declared to be valid.
Repeal.
XIX. The following Ordinances and parts of Ordinances are hereby repealed :-
10 of 1844,. 6 of 1862,
1 of 1863,
3 of 1868,.
.Section XXV.
The whole.
Section III.
But such repeal shall not revive any enactment repealed by any of the said Ordinances or sections, and shall not affect anything duly done before the passing of this Ordinance.
Statement of Objects and Reasons.
Recent investigations have raised a doubt as to the validity of the jurisdiction hitherto exercised by Police Magistrates under Ordinances 6 of 1862 and 1 of 1863, both as to its extent, and as to the effect of subsequent Ordinances, which, it is suggested, have impliedly repealed some portion of the powers originally conferred upon the Police Magistrates.
This Ordinance is introduced to remove any doubts that exist, and to protect the Magistrates from the consequences of any mistaken exercise of jurisdiction, should it, at any time, be esta- blished by a judicial decision in the Supreme Court that they have exceeded their legal powers. The indemnity is intended to cover the difference, if any, between the jurisdiction of the old Court of Petty Sessions, and that conferred upon the Magis- trates when they were put in the place of that Court by the Ordi- nance 6 of 1862.
It is now proposed that Magistrates may dispose of any indict- able crimes, except the most serious, whenever six months im- prisonment, or a fine of $50, and a flogging, is, in their opinion, a sufficient punishment: leaving it to their discretion to commit for trial any offender who merits a severer punishment, or whose guilt is not conclusively established.
The powers thus conferred are distinct from the Magistrates' summary jurisdiction over minor offences against local Ordi- nances, which the Legislature has left to the disposal of the Magistrates, and which cannot, in any event, be sent for trial to the Supreme Court. The offences referred to in this Ordinance are crimes cognisable in the Supreme Court, but too trifling in their circumstances to require trial by a jury.
It is obviously necessary that Magistrates should be able to dispose promptly of small larcenies and other petty felonies, which, but for such powers as are hereby given, would go to the Supreme Court for trial. In the session for the present month, the Chief Justice, in consequence of the uncertain state of the law, will be obliged to try one man for stealing four cash, another for stealing a pair of shoes, a third for stealing a block on board ship, value one dollar, and several other cases equally unimpor-
tant.
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