CO885-(11-13) — Page 716

14,089.

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

L

SIR,

No. 74.

(SIERRA LEONE.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice, 5th August 1886.

We were honoured with your letter of the 10th ultimo stating that you were directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to us the enclosed copies of a despatch from the Governor of the West Africa Settlements, and an extract from a Report by the Acting Chief Justice of Sierra Leone on the Criminal Statistics of the Settlement for the year 1885, relative to the case of a person named Makenkah, who was charged under the Act 34 Victoria, chapter 8, with committing an offence against the persons of British subjects within 20 miles of the boundary of the Settlement, but was discharged owing to the inability of the Crown to prove that he was not the subject of any civilized power.

That you were to refer us to the Report of the then Law Officers of the Crown, dated the 15th June 1874,* on the case of Susan and Samuel Reffles, tried for the murder of a person who died outside, but within 20 miles of, the boundary of the Settlement of Sierra Leone, from injuries inflicted within the Settlement, in which the question of amending the above-mentioned Act was raised.

That the Law Officers then reported that they did not think that any amendment of the Act 34 Victoria, chapter 8, could be suggested, but as the Secretary of State feared that the difficulty which presented itself in Makenkah's case might be found insuperable in all cases of prosecution under the Act where the accused was not a British subject, he desired you to inquire whether, in our opinion, it would not be expedient to invite Parliament to amend the Act by a provision declaring that, for the purposes of the principal Act, any person of African race not residing within the jurisdiction of any civilized Government should be deemed in the absence of proof to the contrary not to be the subject of any civilized power.

In compliance with the request contained in your letter we have the honour to

Report

That the 34 Victoria, chapter 8, was itself an assumption of criminal jurisdiction over foreigners beyond the lines of the general principles of International Law, and it may be that in principle the amendment proposed is no greater anomaly than the Act itself. But we wish to point out that, whereas the Act throws the burden of proving that the prisoner is not a subject of any foreign Government on the prosecution, the amendment practically throws the burden of proving that there is no jurisdiction on the prisoner, and that one of the safeguards against the occurrence of diplomatic complications will thus be taken away.

We think that it is for the Secretary of State, rather than for us, to consider whether the somewhat increased danger of such complications arising is counter- balanced by the fact that, if the Act as amended is put into force with extreme caution by those charged with its administration, in practice but little inconvenience is likely to arise.

The Hon. R. H. Meade, &c. &c. &c.

We have, &c., (Signed) C. RUSSELL.

HORACE DAVEY.

* No. 25 in Vol. 3 (Miscellaneous, No, 51).

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20491,-38. 25.-8/86.