which the law exacts from those who adopt that
course of action, is to establish a very
undesirable and dangerous precedent.
It is
only a short step from such an admission to
acceptance of the view that a murderer should
be exempted from the extreme penalty because
under long established tribal custom it is
permissible for, or even incumbent on, the
member of a clan whose kinsman has been murdered
by a member of another clan, to retaliate by
murdering a member of that clan. If the accused
in the present case had suddenly and without
warning come upon his wife or concubine in
circumstances which indicated adultery and had
in the heat of the moment killed her, the
position would have been different; but it is
clear that such was not the course of events
but that the murder was premeditated and
deliberately planned.
We cannot interfere with the decision
in this actual case and we should
? Acknowledge No. 1 in a short despatch. [It is also for consideration whether it
is not desirable that a semi-official letter
should be sent expressing the view that the
grounds on which the Governor has exercised
the prerogative of mercy appear to be slender;
and stressing the danger of creating a precedent
which would give any support to the view that an
act for which the law demands a definite penalty
condoned
is liable to be in any way eendammed on the ground
that
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