14
Fugitive Offenders.
[39 VICT.]
A.D. 1874. prisoner by sea or otherwise into the British possession in which the warrant was issued, there to be dealt with according to law as if he had been there apprehended.
14
Offences.
Jurisdiction
17. Where a person in one British possession of a group to which
5
as to offence this part of this Act applies- of stealing or
receiving
(1.)
stolen goods.
Has in his possession any property whatsoever which he has stolen or otherwise unlawfully taken or obtained in any other British possession of the same group; or
(2.) Receives or has any property whatsoever which has been 10
stolen or otherwise unlawfully taken or obtained in any other British possession of the same group, knowing the same to have been stolen or otherwise unlawfully taken or obtained,
such person may be apprehended, tried, and punished, in the British 15 possession in which he so has or receives the property as if such property had been there stolen or unlawfully taken or obtained, or in the British possession in which the property was stolen or unlawfully taken or obtained.
Note to clause 17.
This clause (adapted from 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, sa. 96, 114) is inserted to meet the difficulties pointed out by the Chief Justice of Western Australia.
The Queensland Bill provided merely for the recovery of the stolen property. This was pointed out by the Attorney-General of Western Australia to be unnecessary. The Chief Justice appears to be of opinion that the offender could not be punished, and that the colonial legislature has no power to provide for the punishment of the offender.
If the Intter view of the Chief Justice is correct, it appears to be worth considera- tion whether some more general enactment should not be made with respeer to offences begun in one colony and completed in another; or whether some power should not be given to the colonial legislatures to legislate for the punishment of such offences.
A precisely similar difficulty would arise in the case of a murder, where the blow
is inflicted in one colony and the man dies in another, or of thefts committed in a con- veyance passing from one territory to another. These cases as regards different parts of the United Kingdom have been provided for by enactment.
It is a question whether the clause should not be universal instead of being applied only to particular colonies.
Endorse-
ment of warrant.
Application
of Act to offences at
PART III.
SUPPLEMENTAL.
20
18. An endorsement of a warrant, in pursuance of this Act, shall be signed by the authority endorsing the same, and shall authorise the person named in the endorsement as bringing the warrant, and all other persons to whom the warrant was originally directed, and 25 also all constables to execute the warrant within the part of Her Majesty's dominions or place within which such endorsement is by this Act made a sufficient authority by apprehending the person named in it, and bringing him before the magistrate named in the endorsement, or some other magistrate in the said part or place. 30
An endorsement of a warrant, in pursuance of this Act, shall remain in force until the warrant is executed, notwithstanding that the person endorsing the same dies or ceases to hold office.
19. Where a person accused of an offence can, by reason of the nature of the offence, or of the place in which it was committed, or 35
ses or triable otherwise, be tried for it in more than one part of Her Majesty's in several parts of Her dominions, a warrant for the apprehension of such offender may be if Majesty's
issued in any part of Her Majesty's dominions in which he can, he is there, be tried, and this Act shall apply as if the offence had
dominions.
Note to clause 19.
The Bill, like the existing Act, applies only where the fugitive offender has com- mitted an offence in the part of Her Majesty's dominions in which the warrant is issued. There are, however, many offences, particularly those committed by seafaring men, which either are not committed within Her Majesty's dominions, or which can be tried in any place in which the offender is found.
The Bill must, I presume, be extended to these offences.
(559)
F
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
CO. 885
4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO