CO885-(11-13) — Page 598

21,275.

། ། ། ། ཱ།

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

19

CO.

Reference :-

885

12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

MY LORD,

No. 304.

(CYPRUS.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice, 18th December 1883. We were honoured with your Lordehip's commands, signified in Mr. Bramston's letter of the 24th ultimo, stating that he was directed to request that we would be good enough to favour your Lordship with our opinion in the following case at our early convenience.

That in July last an English clerk in the service of the Government of Cyprus was convicted of embezzlement, and sentenced by a competent court to undergo five years' penal servitude.

That it was, however, considered on various grounds expedient that the prisoner should undergo his sentence elsewhere than in the island of Cyprus, and that the High Commissioner requested that provision might, if possible, be made for his removal to Malta.

That an Order in Council (of which a copy was enclosed) had accordingly been passed under section 5 of the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1843, (6 & 7 Vict. cap. 94.,) authorising the removal of prisoners to Malta convicted in Cyprus, and sentenced to imprisonment, in order that the sentence might be carried into effect in Malta.

That the question had, however, been raised whether the word "imprisonment," as used in the fifth section of the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, included penal servitude.

That under the Cyprus Courts of Justice Order in Council, 1882, (a copy of which was enclosed,) the criminal law of England was applicable in Cyprus where the person accused was not an Ottoman subject; but that, as regarded the manner in which the sentences were carried into effect, there was no practical distinction between penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour, and that it had been suggested that the High Commissioner of Cyprus might, with the prisoner's consent, commute the sentence to one of imprisonment simply, or imprisonment with hard labour, with a view, if possible, of meeting the difficulty; that, but even if this were done it would still appear to be equally open to question whether the prisoner could be held to be one who had been "sentenced to suffer imprisonment," and, as such, within the meaning of the Act, and of the Order in Council of the 6th of November 1883.

That Mr. Bramston was, therefore, to request that we would be good enough to advise whether, in our opinion, a prisoner sentenced to penal servitude in Cyprus could legally be removed to and detained in Malta for the purpose of carrying out the remainder of his sentence under the authority of the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1843, and of the accompanying Order in Council of the 6th of November 1883.

And that should this not be the case, whether such a prisoner could be removed under that authority, and retained in custody at Malta, if his sentence were commuted to simple imprisonment or imprisonment with hard labour.

That whether it would render the subsequent imprisonment at Malta valid if the prisoner were formally to undertake to undergo a commuted sentence of imprisonment at Malta on condition of being removed from Cyprus, he himself, as it was understood, being then anxious to be removed.

That whether we were aware of any other expedient by which such a prisoner could legally be removed from Cyprus and detained to fulfil his sentence in Malta.

That Mr. Bramston was to enclose for our information a copy of the Order in Council passed under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1843, and a copy of the Cyprus Courts of Justice Order in Council, 1882, under which the prisoner was sentenced.

In obedience to your Lordship's commands we have the honour to

Report

That the questions submitted to us are not free from difficulty, but it appears to us that "penal servitude" may be deemed to be included within the word “ used in the fifth section of the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1843.

' imprison-

ment"

▲ 19916.-978. 25.-19/84.