9937
SIR.
No. 8.
(WESTERN AUSTRALIA.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Petition of Right of Messrs. George Wills and Company.]
Royal Courts of Justice,
March 28, 1905.
We were honoured with your commands, signified to us by Mr. Bertram Cox in his letter of the 9th instant, stating that, with reference to our report of the 21st November, 1903,* he was directed by you to transmit to us the Petition of Right submitted by Messrs. Moss and Barsden, Solicitors in Western Australia, for presentation to His Majesty on behalf of Messrs. George Wills and Company, and to request that we would take the matter into our consideration and report :-
(1) Whether, having regard to all the circumstances, the case was one in which a fiat should be granted?
(2) If so, what should be the form of the endorsement and what should be the procedure to be adopted when it had been so endorsed?
We have taken the matter into our consideration, and, in obedience to your commands, have the honour to
Report--
That, in our opinion, no fiat should be granted in this case. The claim is in respect of an alleged tort, and no Petition of Right at Common Law lies for a tort. It is unnecessary to consider whether the Petitioners could have brought themselves within the Western Australia Crown Suits Act, 1898. This is an application for
a fiat to a Petition of Right at Common Law, and that statute in no way extends the limits within which such Petitions of Right may be brought.
We have, &c.,
R. B. FINLAY. EDWARD CARSON.
The Right Honourable
Alfred Lyttelton,, M.P., &c.,
&c.,
&c.
• No. 205 in Vol. VI.
25 WL
4,03 D⭑S
3
21063
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
། ། ། ། །། །
Reference :-
C.O.885
16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO