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No. 6 of 1845
No. 2 of 1840.
5th April, 1848.
No. 6 of 1815, § 9.
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the form & Altancy fewered tatate that if they dasion Helg' infofe al apaind are prepared to apply for space leave риран jinment.
31. 5. by
No. 2 of 1565.
See repealed Orice. No. 44 (433, Suc. 1.
SIR,
(Confidentially printed.)
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Hongkong, 14th January, 1869.
I have the honor to address you on the subject of certain ex officio informa-tions for libel filed in the Supreme Court of this Colony against Mr. CHARLES ABRAHAM SAINT, the Editor of the Newspaper called the China Mail, by the Honorable H. J. BALL (while Acting Attorney General) at the instance of the Authorities of Macao, but without the sanction of this Government. I wish to receive the instructions of His Excellency the Governor as to the course which I should pursue with respect to these proceedings, for the responsibility of con-ducting them has devolved upon me on my return to the Colony, and from peculiar circumstances which I will presently detail, I find myself placed in a position of considerable difficulty.
In order to facilitate the explanation of the case, I will first endeavor to point out what the state of the Law is at the present moment in this Colony with respect to criminal proceedings.
The Ordinance by which our Supreme Court is established confers upon it the same jurisdiction in Hongkong as the Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer have in England, and by another Ordinance it is enacted that such of the Laws of England and such portion of the practice of the English Courts as existed when the Colony obtained a local Legislature and are not inapplicable to the local circumstances of the Colony, shall be in force therein.
The Governor has power from time to time to nominate such officers of the Supreme Court (in addition to those appointed by the Ordinance) as shall appear necessary for the execution of its powers and authorities and the administration of justice.
By the "Criminal Law Procedure Ordinance 1865," which is a consolidation See No 9 of 1848, See, 1. Ordinance and repeals, among others, Ordinance No. 8 of 1845, it is enacted that for the purpose of bringing “a criminal case" under the cognizance of the Supreme Court, an information (in the special form provided) shall be signed by the Attorney General who discharges here the functions appertaining to the Grand Jury in England. This Ordinance regulates the practice in cases where the prosecution is at the instance of "a private person," and in those cases the Legis-lature did not apparently intend that the Attorney General should appear at all, though the practice has been otherwise, and he usually conducts all prosecutions. The language of Section 4 of this Ordinance certainly differs from that of Section 1 of the repealed Ordinance No. 8 of 1845, but it applies only, in my See Chalmers's opinions opinion, to the ordinary course of criminal proscention, and does not take away or 'affect the "extraordinary" remedy by information "ex officio" which I will proceed to explain.
at Eminent Lawyers, und City on the Pror, ni the Crown, 291.--(the rule there cited.) Stephen's Comment÷ries, PP. 405-409, Brie. 18,
There are two kinds of "informations ex-officio."
The Honorable
J. GARDINER AUSTIN,
Colonial Secretary.