8138.
No. 10.
(TRINIDAD.)
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTLEC.O.
885
10 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
MY LORD DUKE,
Lincoln's Inn, March 24, 1860. We were honoured with your Grace's commands, signified in Mr. Elliot's letter of the 5th December ultimo, stating that he was directed by your Grace to request that we would peruse the accompanying papers and favour your Grace with our opinion upon the question raised by them.
Mr. Elliot was pleased to add that by the Trinidad Ordinance, No. 10 of 1842, after reciting that it was expedient to assimilate the laws of Trinidad respecting offences to the person to the laws of England, it was enacted (s. 1) that whosoever should commit any act, which if committed in England would constitute the offence of murder, manslaughter, &c., should be deemed guilty of murder, manslaughter, &c.
That by the Imperial Statute 9 Geo. 4. c. 31. s. 8., passed in 1828, it had been enacted (in substance) that if any person died in England of a hurt feloniously inflicted elsewhere, or died elsewhere of a hurt so inflicted in England, the offence should be dealt with as if both events had taken place in England.
That these provisions (with the necessary substitution of names) were incorporated verbatim in the 3rd clause of the Colonial Ordinance above quoted.
That it was pointed out to the Governor by Lord Stanley, then Secretary of State, that the provision which enabled the local courts to take cognizance of cases where death occurred in the Colony, from a hurt inflicted elsewhere, transcended the power of a Colonial Legislature, as it affected to determine the criminal character of an act not committed within the jurisdiction of the Legislature. The whole clause was con- sequently repealed by the Ordinance, No. 9 of 1844.
Mr. Elliot was pleased to enclose copies of these Ordinances with an extract from Lord Stanley's Despatch directing the repeal of the 3rd clause of the Ordinance, No. 10 of 1842.
C
That finally the Ordinance, No. 9 of 1848, s. 2, invested the Supreme Court with "the like powers and jurisdiction in all criminal matters within the Colony as the Court of Queen's Bench hath in the like case in England." That a death had occurred in Venezuela from a blow given in a dependency of Trinidad, and that the Attorney General desired the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown in England on the question whether this is a criminal matter within the Colony,
Mr. Elliot was, therefore, pleased to request that we would inform your Grace- let. Whether in our opinion the case which had been described was a criminal matter within the Colony of Trinidad ?
2nd. Whether in virtue of the 1st section of the Ordinance, No. 10 of 1842, and the English Statute of 9 Geo. 4. c. 31. s. 8, or on any other ground, the Supreme Court was at liberty to deal with the case when brought before them as if the death bad taken place in the Colony? and
3rd. If that was not the case, whether the Colonial Legislature might lawfully enact an Ordinance providing, in the terms of the Imperial Act of Parliament, that in al cases where the hurt was inflicted in Trinidad, and death ensued beyond the limits of the island, the offence should be dealt with as if the death had occurred within those limits?
In obedience to your Grace's commands we have carefully considered the papers submitted to us for our opinion, and have the honour to
Report
That as to 1st and 2nd questions we are of opinion that the case described is not a criminal matter within the Colony of Trinidad, or cognizable by the Supreme Court there. The meaning of the Trinidad Ordinance, No. 10 of 1842, is, that acts which if done and completed in England would be "murder," &c. shall be murder, &c. if done and completed in the Colony. The introduction into that Ordinance of the (since repealed) section 3 makes this quite clear. The provisions of the 9 Geo. 4. o. 31. 8. are wholly inapplicable, inasmuch as to bring a case within that section it is essential that either the stroke or the death must have occurred in " England."
14978.-J. 25.-9/66.