100.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That the Subpoena, or process of the Court, for procuring the attendance of any person before the said Court to give evidence in any criminal case, shall be sued out of the Registrar's Office by the Registrar thereof, or, where the prosecution is at the instance of a private party, by the Prosecutor or his Attorney, or by the Defendant or Defendants, or his, her, or their Attorney; and the same shall be delivered to the Sheriff, at his Office, for execution thereof, together with so many copies of the Subpœna as there are persons to be served therewith.
101.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That the names of four Witnesses may be inserted in one Subpœna, and they shall be described therein with such certainty that the Summoning Officer may be able readily to find them; and the form of the said Subpœna shall, as near as may be, be according to the like form established in the said Court in and for civil cases.
102.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That when the prosecution is at the instance of a private person, he, or she, or some one on his behalf, shall, at the time of delivering the said Subpœna, and copies thereof, also pay to the said Sheriff his lawful costs and charges for executing the same, together with such further sum or sums of money as the said private party intends the said Sheriff to give or tender to the said Witnesses respectively for their travelling expenses.
103.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That service of any Subpoena upon any person therein named to give evidence, shall be made by delivering to him, or her, or by leaving with some one of his, or her, household for him, or her, at his, or her, dwelling house, or with some one of his or her Clerks at his or her counting house or place of business, when he, or she, cannot be found, a copy of the said Subpœna, and the summoning officer shall, at the same time, show him, or her, or the person with whom such copy is left, the original, and shall inform him, or her, of the exigency thereof; and the said officer shall in all cases indorse on, or annex to, the original, a return of the manner of his execution thereof, and shall transmit the same to the Registrar of the Court.
104.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That the Prisoner or Prisoners to be tried on any Indictment or Information, shall be placed at the bar unfettered, unless the Court shall see cause otherwise to order; and the Indictment or Information, shall be read over to him, her, or them, by the Registrar, or other Officer of the Court, and explained, if need be, by that officer, or the interpreter of the Court; and such Prisoner or Prisoners, shall be required to plead instantly thereto, unless, where the Prisoner or Prisoners is, or are entitled to service of a copy of the Indictment or Information, he, she, or they, shall object to the want of such service, and the Court shall find that he, she, they, has, or have not been duly served therewith.
105.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That if any Prisoner, being arraigned upon, or charged with any Indictment or Information, will not answer to the Indictment or Information, the Court shall, if it shall so think fit, order the Registrar to enter a plea of "Not guilty" on behalf of such Prisoner, and the plea so entered shall have the same force and effect as if such Prisoner had actually pleaded the same; or else the Court shall thereupon cause a Jury to be impanelled to try whether the Prisoner be of sound or unsound mind; and if he, or she, shall be found to be of unsound mind, the Court shall make such order touching the safe custody of the said Prisoner as to the Court shall seem just and proper; and if he, or she, shall be found of sound mind the Court shall proceed with the trial of the said Prisoner.
106.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That the Registrar, or other Officer of the Court, shall note the plea of the said Prisoner upon the Indictment, or annex the same thereto.
107.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That the Prisoner upon the general plea of "not guilty," shall, without any further form, be deemed to have put himself, or herself, upon the Jury for trial; but when he, or she, shall plead any special plea, the Prosecutor shall forthwith verbally reply to the same, unless further time be granted to him, or her, by the Court, for that purpose, and the Registrar or the Officer of the Court shall note such replication upon the Indictment, or Information, or annex the same thereto, and the Court shall forthwith dispose thereof, or such further proceedings shall be had thereon as to the said Court may seem meet.
108.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That before the Jury are charged with the trial of any Prisoner, or during the progress of any such trial, it shall be lawful for the Court to amend the Indictment or Information in any matter of form not calculated to prejudice or mislead the Prisoner, in his or her defence.
109.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That as soon as the Prisoner shall have put himself, or herself, upon the Jury for trial, and the Court shall order a Jury for the trial of such Prisoner accordingly, or for the trial of any special issue arising upon the record, the said Jury shall be thereupon called, sworn, and charged, in manner provided for that purpose.
110.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That no Judgment upon any Indictment, or Information, whether after verdict of the Jury, or upon confession of the Prisoner, or otherwise, shall be stayed or reversed, except upon objections arising upon the said Indictment or Information, as on record, and whereby the proceedings thereon are rendered erroneous or defective.
111.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That no such Judgment shall be stayed or reversed for want of the averment of any matter unnecessary to be proved; nor because any person or persons mentioned in the Indictment or Information, is, or are, designated by name of office or other descriptive appellation, instead of his or their proper name or names; nor for omitting to state, or erroneously stating, the time or place at which the offence was committed, in any case in which time or place is not of the essence of the offence, provided that the Court shall appear by the Indictment or Information to have had jurisdiction in the case; nor on the ground of any objection to the form or relevancy of the Indictment or Information which, if stated before the Jury were impanelled, or during the process of the trial, might have been amended by the Court; nor because of any error committed in summoning the Jury, or any of them; nor because any person who has served upon the Jury has not been returned by the Sheriff; nor because of any objection which might have been stated as a ground of challenge of any of the Jurors, except the objection of minority.
112.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That in all matters and proceedings in the said Supreme Court there shall be taken and allowed such fees as the Court shall from time to time order and direct; and that the fees specified in the schedule hereto annexed, marked (N°. 10) shall be the lawful fees to be taken and allowed in the said Court (other than in proceedings under the summary jurisdiction thereof as hereinafter provided), unless and until the Court shall otherwise order and direct. And all fees received by the Registrar, as well as those received by the inferior Officers of the Court, shall be accounted for Quarterly by them respectively to the Colonial Treasurer.
113.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That the said Court shall have full power and authority to hear and determine in a summary way, and without the intervention of a Jury, all disputes and differences between party and party, touching any matter of debt, breach of covenant or promise, injury to the person or property, or other matter, where the debt or damages sought to be recovered shall not exceed the sum of One hundred dollars, except the matter in question shall relate to the title of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or to the taking of any duty payable to Her Majesty, or to any fee of office, or other matter, where rights in future might be bound, or to any general right or duty: Provided, that no party shall be precluded or exempted from suing or being sued under the aforesaid Summary Jurisdiction by reason of his or her not having attained the full age of twenty-one years, or by reason of coverture where the husband shall not be resident within the said Colony of Hongkong.
114.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That no cause of action or complaint which shall exist at any one time and shall amount in the whole to a sum exceeding the sum of One hundred dollars as aforesaid shall be split or divided, so as to be made the ground of two or more different actions or complaints, in order to bring such cases within the Summary Jurisdiction created by this Ordinance; but if the Chief Justice of the said Court shall find that the Plaintiff in any case shall have split his cause of action or complaint as aforesaid he shall dismiss the said action or complaint with the ordinary costs of a dismissal, without prejudice however to the Plaintiff's right to sue upon such cause of action or complaint in such other manner as he lawfully may: Provided, that if such Plaintiff shall be satisfied to recover such sum as, according to this Ordinance, the Summary Jurisdiction of the said Court is made to extend to, in full of the whole of such his demand, then the said Chief Justice shall and may, if such Plaintiff shall satisfactorily prove his case, make and pronounce an order or decree for such Plaintiff for such sum as shall in such case be demanded by the process, so as such sum does not exceed the Summary Jurisdiction created by this Ordinance: and the same shall be expressed in such order or decree to be, and shall be, in full discharge of the whole of such demand, and shall be a full and complete bar to any other action or complaint, which may be brought or made thereon in the same or any Court whatever.
115.-And be it further enacted and ordained, That nothing herein contained relating to the Summary Jurisdiction aforesaid shall extend to any debt being the disputed balance of an unsettled account originally exceeding One hundred dollars, nor to any debt, or supposed debt, for any money or thing won, or alleged to have been won, at or by means of any horse-race, cock-match, wager, or any kind of chance, gaming, or play, or to any debt for which there has not been a contract, acknowledgment, undertaking, or promise to pay, within three years before the taking out of the summons.
116.-And for the better discovery of the truth, and the more speedily obtaining the end of such actions or complaints, be it further enacted and ordained, That it shall and may be lawful for the said Chief Justice to examine the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs, and Defendant or Defendants, upon oath...
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