CO885(3-4) — Page 107

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

:

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any one consider the course of a plaint. Before the Court of Justice the matter under consideration is discussed in Heligoland idiom; adjudicated and recorded in German. The Governor has then to take the case in hand, and the law having been explained to him, if necessary, by a person who has not received a legal education, he gives his decision in English, which is again translated by that person into German before. it is made known in the idiom of Heligoland. Who can tell what comes out of all this?

"Upon the whole, matters take the best turn when they are decided equitably; but when, unfortunately, A positive law becomes applicable to a case, then the issue becomes uncertain in the highest degree. The course to the Third Instance is similar, and withal so enormously expensive, that not one person among hundreds is able to pay the expenses. The mere fees for copying would exhaust the means of most men in Heligoland.

"And yet there is no want of important, nay, of most important, cases of law. I need only allude to In the penalties generally, and to stranded vessels. year 1820 there occurred a disputed case of salvage from which the island benefited to the extent of more than 2,0001.; a case which produced the greater excitement as the master of the vessel, im- mediately after he had made his agreement with the pilots, shot himself. And in such cases the Coun- cillor and the Governor are Judges and Superior Judges they benefiting personally by the per- centage which accrues to them; and the Governor receiving, besides, for his share all the iron and bolts of the wreck. Punishment is seldom awarded by the Court, but is only the more telling when recourse is had to it. Thus, in the last twenty years there has been a whole list of banishments for stated periods and for life; one on account of theft, and another for bigamy and perjury; a third for an attempt to assault a woman; a fourth for disobe- dience to the laws, &c. The first case is that of a

young Heligolander, who had stolen to the value of

nineteen shillings; he was sentenced to banishment for life. The last case was the affair already men- tjoned of Harro Harring; he refused to appear

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personally to answer a plaint; he was, therefore, by judgment of 20th April, 1838, banished for offensive disobedience to the laws, and prohibited from ever returning. Harro in vain moved heaven and earth. The Colonial Minister informed him, in November of that year, that the case had been referred for the consideration of Her Majesty's Attorney-General, and that his removal was warranted by law, as he was considered a foreigner. I have, in vain, endea- voured to ascertain the law which may jutify such

a judgment. The decision from London mentions an Edict of 1695, by which was probably meant the Landesbeliebung of 1605, which had been repeatedly confirmed, and of which this is the text: 'No one is to reside here who chooses, nor one who comes here as a tramp; that is never to be time summer permitted to strangers; but in

of their use The context, how-

we willingly allow them to make merchandize and crockery,'

ever, shows that that enactment applies only to trading, and cannot be quoted as justifying expulsion

for life.

"Another case in which a young Heligolander was concerned, in 1838, is much more serions

He

was charged with having forcibly assaulted the honour and virtue of a young woman.' The assault was, at any rate, only an attempt; for the girl herself declared that, after having been twice thrown down with violence, and been struck on the face, she had effected her escape by cunning; or by demeaning herself as if she intended to consent. The defendant confessed that he had kissed the There- Plaintiff, but denied all further violence. upon, without further inquiry or particular inves- tigation, it was ordered by the Court that the Plaintiff should certify the truth of her allegations

by a solemn oath, and she having accordingly been sworn, the Court forthwith gave judgment that, in accordance (?) with the laws of Jutland, lib. ii, cap. 16, 17, the Defendant be banished for life, and do, stante pede, pay the expenses of process, to the amount of 12s. I need not say what must be

the feelings of a German jurist on such a case. What Englishmen may think of it, I do not know. It must be mentioned, however, that, according to

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