PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
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C.O.885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
+
2
Her Majesty's High Commissioner might, in Her Majesty's name and on her behalf, properly grant to the convict a remission of the sentence of death passed upon him, either by commuting it to one of imprisonment for life, or to any other (and if so what) punishment.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands we have taken the papers into our consideration, and have the honour to
Report
That in our opinion the case is one in which Her Majesty's High Commissioner may, in Her Majesty's name and on her behalf, properly grant a commutation of the sentence to one of ten years' imprisonment.
The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., &c.
&c.
&c.
We have, &c., (Signed) RICHARD WEBSTER.
EDWARD CLARKE.
4090.
No. 112.
(CYPRUS.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
MY LORD,
Royal Courts of Justice, February 29, 1888. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Mr. Wingfield's letter of the 11th instant, stating that he was directed to inform us that your Lordship desired to be furnished with our opinion on the validity of certain marriages of British subjects, which had been solemnized in Cyprus since the British occupation by a priest in the Holy Orders of the Church of England.
That the Island of Cyprus was assigned to Her Majesty the Queen to be occupied and administered by two conventions of which copies were enclosed; but that the convention Island remained part of the Ottoman Empiro, and that as no legislation had taken 157, and Aline place since the occupation on the subject of marriage, it was apprehended that the law July 1, 1876. on the subject remained as it was in Turkey before 1878.
That it had been proposed from the first that the celebration of marriage between British subjects, or where one of the parties was a British subject, should be regulated by local legislation; but that such legislation had been delayed from various causes, and that the question was whether any, and if so, what legislation was required to validate such marriages of British subjects, as had been solemnized in the meantime, other than marriages solemnized within the military lines by Army Chaplains.
slated June 4,
thereto inted
That in a report, of which a copy was enclosed, the Acting Queen's Advocate of October 24, 188 Cyprus had suggested that it was desirable to validate such marriages in order to remove any doubts which might be held to arise from the Consular Marriages Act of 1849 (12 & 13 Victoria, cap. 68.).
That on the 29th of September 1880, the then Law Officers of the Crown, in a report to the Foreign Office, reported that the High Commissioner should be informed that the marriage of British subjects in Cyprus by a clergyman according to the rites of the Church of England was valid.
That your Lordship desired to be informed whether we agreed with the view of our predecessors as to the validity of such marriages, and further whether if we did so agree, we thought that any legislation was desirable to remove any doubts upon the question. That some difficulty might be thought to arise from the fact that Parliament by the 12 & 13 Victoria, Chapter 68, Section 20, validated (amongst other kinds of past marriages) past marriages of British subjects, solemnized in foreign countries by a clergyman of the Church of England, but was silent as to the validity of such marriages
in future.
That as bearing on the view of Parliament, respecting the validity of marriages of the class validated by the 12 & 13 Victoria, Chapter 68, Section 20, but contracted subsequently to the passing of that Act, reference might be made to the subsequent Act, 42 & 43 Victoria, Chapter 29. That that Act in terms validated anew one of the classes of marriages validated by the previous Act, viz. :-marriages solemnized or contracted on board one of Her Majesty's Ships of War in the presence of the Com- manding Officer. That such marriages, of course, differed from those solemnized by clergymen in not being in any view of the matter protected by the ruling in Regina v. Millis as valid by Ecclesiastical Law.
That if we were of opinion that any legislation for validating past marriages solemn- nized in Cyprus by a clergyman of the Church of England, according to the rites of that Church, was desirable, Mr. Wingfield was to request that we would state, whether in our opinion, an ordinance of the local legislature would suffice, or whether Imperial legislation would be required.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have the honour to
Report
That in our opinion it is not necessary, that any legislation should take place in order to render valid the marriages referred to, such marriages being-as the law now stands -clearly valid.
The Right Hon.
Lord Knutsford,
&c..
We have, &c., (Signed)
&c., &c.
*No.
RICHARD E. WEBSTER. EDWARD CLARKE.
A
52950.-12. 25.-9/88.