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Enclosure No. 2.
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CHAMBERS,
Hong Kong23rd September, 192 9.
REPORT ON ORDINANCE No..........1.3..........of 192 9.
I have examined the accompanying Ordinance. intituled an
Ordinance to amend the Offences against the Person Ordinance, 1865, and I am of opinion that the Ordinance
is one which is not contrary to the Governor's instructions.
Section 45 of the Offences against the Person
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Ordinance, 1865, Ordinance No. 2 of 1865, makes it a
offence to take away a child under fourteen, by force or
fraud, with intent to deprive any parent, guardian, or
other person having the lawful care or charge of the child
or of the possession of such child.
In cases where
the child taken away was a mui tsai, and where the
authorities have prosecuted on being satisfied that the
motive of the kidnapper was not a benevolent one but the
desire of gain, they have sometimes been met by the argument that the section did not apply because the mistress of a mui tsai could not be considered as having
the lawful care or charge of the child.
The Government