Extent of Pu-
Court.
hereby vested in the Court of Petty Sessions aforesaid: And that for the despatch of business, it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Chief Magistrate of Police, or Person so deputed, to adjourn the said Court from day to day.
IV. And be it further enacted and ordained, That such Court shall have power and authority to award as Punishment on due Conviction, for any of the Crimes or Offences above specified, Imprisonment in any of Her Majesty's Jails within the Colony for any Period not exceeding Six Calendar Months, with or without Hard Labour; or Solitary Confinement not exceeding Fourteen Days at a time, or One Month in all; or any Fine not exceeding Fifty Dollars; or both Fine and Imprisonment not exceeding these limits: That when any Male Offender shall be convicted under this Ordinance of Larceny, Embezzlement, or of the knowingly uttering, or having possession of with intent to utter, Counterfeit Coin as aforesaid, or of any Felony, or of receiving Stolen Property, it shall be lawful for the Court to direct that, in addition to any other Punishment to which he may be liable, the Offender be once or twice publicly or privately whipped.
Directions as to Corporal Punishment.
V. And be it further enacted and ordained, That whenever Corporal Punishment shall be inflicted under this or any previous Ordinance, such Punishment shall in no case at any single time exceed Thirty-six Blows with a Rattan, to be inflicted in the presence of the Principal Jailer, or some other proper Person deputed for the purpose by the Presiding Magistrate.
Power to award Amends in certain cases.
VI. And be it further enacted and ordained, That on the Conviction of any Person of an Offence by which injury or loss to Person or Property shall have accrued, it shall be lawful for such Court to award reasonable Amends to be made to the Person aggrieved, by Payment of any Sum not exceeding Fifty Dollars, besides the Penalty to which the Offender may be liable for the Offence, notwithstanding that the aggrieved Person may have been examined as a Witness in the case.
VII. And be it further enacted and ordained, That any one Magistrate of the Colony sitting out of Sessions shall have the same power to decide all cases of Assault, and Assault and Battery unaccompanied by an intent to commit Felony, as is herein vested in the Court of Petty Sessions in regard to Assaults generally. And it is hereby provided, that such Magistrate shall not have power to award Amends or Compensation; or any Punishment greater than Six Weeks' Imprisonment; or a Fine not exceeding Twenty-five Dollars.
VIII. And be it further enacted and ordained, That if any Fine imposed hereunder, or any Amends be not paid on Conviction, or within such time or times as may be determined by the Court or Magistrate convicting, it shall be lawful for the convicting Court or Magistrate to imprison the Offender for any Period not exceeding, together with any other Imprisonment that may have been awarded, the Term of Six Calendar Months in the whole; or such Magistrate or Court may in his or its discretion levy the Amount and Costs by Distress on the Goods and Chattels of the Offender.
Power to commit Offenders before Conviction to stand their Trial before the Supreme Court.
IX. And be it further ordained and declared, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Court, during the Trial of any case under this Ordinance, or at any time before Conviction, to commit the Prisoner to stand his or her Trial before the Supreme Court, should it appear that the case would be properly visited with a heavier Punishment than such Court of Petty Sessions could award, and that the Law administered in the said Supreme Court applies such heavier Punishment; or for any other reasonable cause.
Jurisdiction in certain cases.
X. And be it further enacted and ordained, That it shall be lawful and competent for the said Court of Petty Sessions, or for any Magistrate of Police thereto duly authorized by the Governor of this Colony, to try and determine in a summary manner, cases and differences between Master and Servant, and relating to Wages, where the pecuniary question for decision shall not exceed the Sum of Fifty Dollars; and all disputes and differences between Party and Party touching any matter of Debt or Promise; injury to the Person or Property, or other matter, where the Debt or Damages sought to be recovered shall not exceed the said Sum of Fifty 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 also, that nothing herein contained relating to the said Civil Jurisdiction aforesaid shall extend to any Debt being the disputed Balance of an unsettled Account originally exceeding Fifty 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: And that such Court of Petty Sessions or Police Magistrate so authorized may examine the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs, Defendant or Defendants, viva voce on their several corporal Oaths, and may make an Order in writing for the payment of such Wages, or Debt or Damages aforesaid, and any Costs incurred by the Proceeding, before the said Court or Magistrate, payable either on demand or by Instalments, as shall seem advisable, or as the case may be, an Order for the dismissal of the case with or without Costs. And that in the event of any such Order not being complied with, it shall be lawful for the Chief or presiding Magistrate of the said Court, or for the Police Magistrate authorized as aforesaid, to issue a Precept to some known Bailiff of the Colony, or other discreet Person or Persons, to levy the Sum so ordered to be paid by a Sale of the Goods and Chattels of the Defendant or Defendants or other Party; or in case it shall appear from the return to the Precept, by the statement of the Defendant, or otherwise, that the Defendant or other Party has no Goods or Chattels whereon to levy, the Court or Magistrate having issued the said Precept may order that the said Defendant or other Party be imprisoned for any Term not exceeding Three Months: Provided always, that when, from its involving a difficult point of Law, or from any other cause whatever, the said Court or Magistrate may think proper to refer for Trial to the Supreme Court, any case over which the said Court of Petty Sessions or Magistrate may have Jurisdiction and Cognizance under this Section, it or he may do so. And be it further declared, That nothing herein contained shall be deemed to abridge the Summary Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, or to prevent or impede any Suitor from proceeding thereunder for Wages, or any other Debt or Damages on this Section above mentioned, if desirous so to do.
XI. And be it farther enacted and ordained, That if any Person shall use any insulting expression in Chinese or any other language towards a Magistrate or Justice of the Peace acting in the discharge of any Magisterial duty, he shall be liable to be fined by the said Magistrate or Justice of the Peace in an Amount not exceeding Fifty Dollars, or imprisoned for a Term not exceeding Two Calendar Months.
XII. And be it further enacted and ordained, That the said Chief Magistrate and all other Magistrates shall, and are hereby required to make and transmit to the Colonial Secretary, a Weekly Return of all Cases tried and determined by them during the preceding Week, exhibiting the nature of the Offences, and the Punishments or Fines awarded.
XIII. And be it further enacted and ordained, That if any Person be charged before a Magistrate on any day when the said Court of Petty Sessions be not sitting, with any Offence cognizable by the said Court under this Ordinance, such Magistrate may commit such Person so charged to take his Trial before the said Court, or may admit to Bail or discharge such Person without taking down in writing any part of the Examination; and it shall be sufficient to state in the Warrant of Commitment that the Prisoner is charged with Felony or Misdemeanour, or as the case may be, without further particularizing the Offence.
XIV. And be it further enacted and ordained, That if any Native of China, or Chinese Native of any other place than Hongkong, not being a Householder or a permanent Resident in the Colony, shall have been convicted of any Felony, or shall be a suspected Person apparently frequenting the Colony for felonious purposes, or who shall be a public Beggar therein, it shall be lawful for the said Court of Petty Sessions, whether before or after the Punishment of such Person, to send him in custody to the nearest Chinese Magistrate residing on the Mainland of China, with a request from any Magistrate of the said Court that the Person so sent in custody may be prevented from returning to the said Colony; and if any Person having been so sent away, shall return to the Colony without the permission of a Magistrate thereof, he shall be subject, on Conviction before the said Court, to a Term of Imprisonment not exceeding Six Calendar Months, with or without Hard Labour, or Whipping, and to be again sent in custody to the Mainland of China, as is above provided.
Power to the Court to estreat Recognizances under certain circumstances.
XV. And be it further enacted and ordained, That whenever any Person has heretofore entered or shall hereafter enter into any Recognizance or Crown Bond before any Justice of the Peace, or any Officer of Police, and that such Bond or Recognizance has or shall become forfeited, or any of the Conditions thereof broken, it shall and may be lawful to and for...
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