jure gentium since the crime if it were one was
51
committed by foreigners on the High Seas.
By the
judgment of the Full Court of Hong Kong delivered on the
1st April, 1931, this question was determined in the
negative with the result that the conviction was quashed
and the prisoners were discharged. No appeal lies from
the above judgment of the Full Court which is and remains
binding upon all the Courts of Hong Kong; in addition
the question of law involved in this judgment is one of
far-reaching importance since it is conceived that others
of His Majesty's Criminal Courts in the Far East will
regard the judgment as one which, though not binding on
them, they ought to follow, whereby the freedom of
action of His Majesty's Naval Forces in the suppression
of piracy on the High Seas in the Far East may, if the
law has been rightly declared in the said judgment, be
seriously curtailed.
I am
of the Epinion
Sir Philip Cunliffe Lister is advised that a
question of law arises which it would be proper, if His
Majesty so thought fit, to refer to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council in pursuance of Section 4
kaeri
of the Judicial Committee Act, 1833, and I am therefore
2.