PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TILLEC.O.
885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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applied for and granted, than the association fell to
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the ground, for though the law expenses of the Governor. No. 80. May 6, 1853. party attacked might be as covenanted as forth-
coming, who was to compensate him for adopting some other plan of curing his sugar until the ques- tion was tried, or as the alternative for keeping his vacuum-pau and other machinery standing idle during an entire crop? Instead, therefore, of obtaining the desired opportunity of testing the claims of the patentees in a Court of law, submis- sion was immediately made to their agent, costs incurred on both sides paid, and the pans agreed to be worked upon the same terms as those furnished from England.
15. In proof of my second position, I will only state that not only the mechanical, but the greater part of the chemical process claimed to be invented by Don Ramos, are alleged by old planters to have been practised in this Colony thirty or forty years ago; whilst the use of the salts of lead in clarifying cane-juice, now patented both by Scoffern and Bran- deis, has been well known to scientific men for years past, and enlarged upon by Dr. Shier, the agricultural chemist of this Colony, in lectures and pamphlets on the subject.
16. Although, therefore, there may be, no doubt, novelty in the particular way in which these inven- tions are applied, or in the precise combinations effected, it would scarcely be consistent with justice to prohibit summarily every experiment made with similar ingredients, though not used in the same proportions, and it is manifest that perseverance in such a course would shut the door upon further improvements in the manufacture of one of the most important articles of consumption.
17. It is on this account that I dread the opera- tion of the present System; and as in all such cases the most delicate questions of chemistry are involved, and the best scientific evidence required, an action of damages would seem by far the most satisfactory mode of arriving at a conclusion.
Mr. Attorney-General Craig.-In reference to the first question, I beg leave respectfully to report:
That a person in this Colony, desirous of obtaining
a Patent in the first instance, presents a petition to
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the Court of Policy, praying that an Ordinance
Governor, No. 80, May 6, 1853. may be passed securing to the petitioner the privi- leges which he seeks to obtain under the Patent. Should the prayer of the petition be granted, the Ordinance is passed and transmitted in due course to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for confirmation. With regard to the second question, I have merely to state that the English Law of Evidence is in full force in this Colony, and that the rules of evidence applicable to the proof of foreign docu- ments would govern any question which might arise in reference to the proof of a Patent granted in England.
The Chief Justice. In answer to questions `șub- mitted by the Governor:
1. What is the present state of the law of the Colony under your government as to the powers which exist for the grant of Patents within the Colony by the local authorities?
The Governor, with the advice and consent of the Court of Policy, possesses and has exercised the power of passing an Ordinance securing to the originators of inventions all such rights and privi- leges as can be secured to them in England by Letters-Patent. See Ordinances No. 83, anno 1836; No. 15, anno 1841; and No. 26, anno 1850. Of course the benefits conferred by any Ordinance of the Governor and Court of Policy will be limited to the Colony,
2. What is the present state of the law as to the mode of proving, in the Colonial Courts, Patents granted in this country, regard being had to the recent Patent Act, 15 & 16 Vict., cap 83, and also to the Act to amend the Law of Evidence, 14 & 15 Vict., cap. 99?
The Letters-Patent, or office copy duly authenticated, is admissible in evidence in the Courts of this Colony; the whole law of evidence, including 14 & 15 Vict., cap. 99, being in force in the Colony.
an
3. What is your opinion, and that of your Executive Council, as to the expediency of the grant of Patents in this country extending to the Colony under your government?
It would be expedient, in my opinion, that