29
Windward Islands.
TOBAGO.
No. 21.
Temple, December 30, 1848.
COPY of a LETTER from the ATTORNEY and SOLICITOR-General to
SIR,
Mr. MERIVAle.
No. 21.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.885
Reference :-
WE beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th instant, in Pardon, charter of, which you state :-
need not be pro- duced and allowed
1. That you are directed by Earl Grey to request us to favour his Lordship in Criminal Court. with our joint opinion on the following question.
2. That the Lieutenant-Governor of Tobago informed the Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench of that. Island, that he intended, by virtue of the powers vested in him under his Commission and Instructions, to extend Her Majesty's pardon to two men convicted of felony, and who were at the time undergoing their sentence of imprisonment.
3. That it has been the practice in Tobago (as far as it is known uniformly), for the Provost Marshal, who has custody of the jail, to release criminals at once on the mere production to him of the Queen's charter of pardon. But in this instance the Chief Justice warned the Provost Marshal that the existing practice was illegal, and that no prisoner could be released until his pardon had been formally allowed by a competent Court.
4. That in consequence of this warning the pardons were pleaded and allowed, and no immediate question arose; but a correspondence has followed, which renders it desirable that Earl Grey should be advised whether the position thus laid down by the Chief Justice is correct in point of law.
5. The question on which our opinion is requested, therefore, is, whether in the Island of Tobago, the Provost Marshal is bound to release prisoners sentenced by a Court of competent jurisdiction on production of the Queen's charter or whether that charter must be produced before the Court, and allowed by it?
6. That the Island of Tobago is under the laws of England, as far as they are applicable to its circumstances and population, in matters not expressly provided for by local enactment.
7. That the only local Acts to which it is necessary to call our attention appear to be the following:
8. An Act of Tobago, passed on the 17th August, 1829, which constituted the Court of King's Bench, providing that the proceedings of that Court should be regulated by the Common Law of the Island; the Common Law of England; the Statute of the Island then or thereafter to be enforced; the Statute Law of Great Britain as it existed at the close of the Session of Parliament held in the 9th year of George IV; and " as each of these several laws are modified by the other of them."
9. That on the 20th November, 1841, another law was passed, with the intention of adopting, not only retrospectively, but prospectively, such amend- ments of the English law as were capable of being so adopted. Under this Act, the laws in force in the Island are the Acts of the Local Legislature, and subject thereto "so much of the Common Law and all such public and general statutes, and parts of the public and general statute laws of England, and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in force in England, as are, or shall be, or become applicable and suitable to the circumstances and population of this colony."
10. That you are directed to subjoin a document styled by the Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench of Tobago, "A Declaration of the law, concerning pardons, and the allowance of pardons?" and also a paper, with which Earl Grey
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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