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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 17 JUNE, 1865.
147. Any Court, either of its own motion, or, in civil cases, on the application of any party to any suit or proceeding reference, may summon as a witness any British subject in China or Japan,---but so that a Provincial Court shall have so to summon British subjects in its own district only.
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Any British subject, duly served with such a summons and with reasonable notice of the time and place at which his attendance is required, failing to attend accordingly and not excusing his failure to the satisfaction of the Court, shall, over and above any other liability to which he may be subject, be liable to a fine not exceeding 500 dollars, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding one month, in the discretion of the Court.
148. In eivil cases any Court may, where the circumstances appear to justify it, order that the expenses of a witness, ou his appearing to give evidence, shall be defrayed by the parties or any of them.
149. Any person appearing before a Court to give evidence in any case, civil or criminal, may be examined or give evidence on oath in the form or with the ceremony that he declares to be binding on his conscience.
150. Any British subject wilfully giving false evidence in any suit or proceeding, civil or criminal, or on any reference, shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury.
151. All costs and all charges and expenses of witnesses, prosecutions, punishments, and deportations, and other charges and expenses, and all fees, fines, forfeitures, and pecuniary penalties payable under this Order, may be levied by distress and seizure and sale of ships, goods, and lands; and no bill of sale, or mortgage, or transfer of property, made with a view to security in regard to crimes or offences committed, or to be committed, sliall be of any avail to defeat any provision of this Order.
152. All fees, fines, forfeitures, confiscations, and pecuniary penalties levied under this Order, except confiscations and pecuniary penalties by treaty appropriated or payable to the Government of China or to that of the Tycoon of Japan, shall be carried to the public account, and be applied in diminution of the public expenditure on account of Her Majesty's Courts in China and Japan; but if the Government of China or that of the Tycoon of Japan declines to receive any confiscation or pecuniary penalty by treaty appropriated or payable to it, the same shall be applied as other confiscations and pecuniary penalties are applicable.
153. Whenever under this Order any Person is to be taken in custody or otherwise, for trial or imprisonment, or by way of deportation, or for any other purpose, to the Supreme Court or elsewhere in China or Japan, or to Hongkong, England, or elsewhere, the Court or other authority by this Order authorized to cause him to be so taken, may for that purpose (if necessary) cause him to be embarked on board one of Her Majesty's vessels of war, or if there is no such vessel available, then on board any British or other fit vessel, at any port or place whether within or beyond the particular jurisdiction or district of that Court or authority, and in order to such embarkment may (if necessary) cause him to be taken, in custody or otherwise, by land or by water, from any place to the port or place of embarkment. ·
The writ, order, or warrant of the Supreme Court for China and Japan, or of a Provincial Court in China or Japan, or of the Supreme Court of Hongkong, or the warrant of the Governor or person administering the Government of Hongkong (as the case may be), by virtue whereof any person is to be so taken, shall be sufficient authority to every constable, officer, or other person acting thereunder, and to the commander or master of any vessel of war, or other vessel (whether the constable, officer, or other person, or the vessel or the commander or master thereof, is named therein or not), to receive, detain, take, and deliver up such person, according to the writ, order, or warrant.
Where the writ, order, or warrant is executed under the immediate direction of the Court or authority issuing it, the writ, order, or warrant shall be delivered to the constable, officer, or other person acting thereunder, and a duplicate thereof shall be delivered to the commander or master of any vessel in which the person to whom the writ, order, or warrant relates is embarked.
Where the writ, order, or warrant issues from the Supreme Court for China and Japan, and is executed by a Provincial Court in China or Japan, and where the writ, order, or warrant issues from the Supreme Court of Hongkong, and is executed by any of Her Majesty's Courts in China or Japan,--a copy thereof certified under the seal of the Court executing the same shall be delivered to the constable, officer, or other person acting thereunder, and to the commander or master of any vessel in which the person taken is embarked; and any such copy shall be for all purposes conclusive evidence of the Order of which it purports to be a copy.
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154. Subject to the other provisions of this Order, all expenses of removal of prisoners and others from or to any place in China or Japan, or from or to Hongkong, and the expenses of deportation and of the sending of any person to England, shall, be defrayed as the expenses relating to distressed British subjects are defrayed, or in such other manner as one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State from time to time directs.
155. If any British subject wilfully obstructs by act or threat an officer of a Court in the performance of his duty,-- Or within or close to the room or place where a Court is sitting wilfully behaves in a violent, threatening, or disrespectful manner, to the disturbance of the Court, or the terror of the suitors or others resorting thereto,-
Or wilfully insults the Judge, Assistant Judge, or Law Secretary of the Supreme Court, or any Consular Officer, or any juror or Assessor, or any clerk or officer of a Court, during his sitting or attendance in Court or in going to or returning from Court,-
He shall be liable to be immediately apprehended by order of the Court, and to be detained until the rising of the Court. and further on due inquiry and consideration, to be punished with a fine not exceeding 25 dollars, or imprisonment for any term not exceeding seven days, at the discretion of the Court, according to the nature and circumstances of the case.
A minute shall be made and kept of every such case of punishment, recording the facts of the offence and the extent of the punishment; and in the case of a Provincial Court, a copy of such minute shall be forthwith sent to the Judge of the Supreme
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156. If any clerk or officer of a Court acting under pretence of the process or authority of the Court is charged with extortion, or with not duly paying any money levied, or with other misconduct, the Court may (without prejudice to any other liability or punishment to which the clerk or officer would in the absence of the present provision be liable) inquire int the charge in a summary way, and for that purpose summon and enforce the attendance of all necessary persons in like man ner as the attendance of witnesses and others may be enforced in a suit, and may make such order thereupon for the repayme of any money extorted or for the due payment of any money levied, and for the payment of such damages and costs, as the Court thinks just; and the Court may also, if it thinks fit, impose such fine upon the clerk or officer, not exceeding 50 dolles for each offence, as seems just.
157. Any suit or proceeding shall not be commenced in any of Her Majesty's Courts in China or Japan or in any Court la Hongkong against any person for anything done or omitted in pursuance or exccution or intended execution of this Order, ** of any Regulation or Rule made under it, unless notice in writing is given by the intending plaintiff or prosecutor
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