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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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C.O. 885

15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

SIB,

No. 82.

(Natal, ZuluLAND,)

LAW OFFICERS TO COLONIAL OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice, April 9, 1901.

We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. H. Bertram Cox's letter of the 29th ultimo, stating that he was directed by you to transmit to us a despatch from the Governor of Natal, and a telegraphic correspondence with him, arising out of the case of one Mapelu, convicted of the crime of murder by the High Court of Zululand and sentenced to death.

That it appeared that Mapelu, who was a native domiciled in Zululand, had recently been convicted of the murder of another native, committed in March, 1900, in the Vryheid district of the Transvaal, i.e., outside the borders of Zululand, and within what was then the territory of the South African Republic.

That the offender had been tried and convicted under Regulation 28 of the Laws and Regulations for the Government of Zululand, made by Proclamation No. 2 of 1887, but that the Attorney-General of Natal doubted the validity of that regulation, and had WAS, there- asked that our opinion should be obtained thereon. That Mr. Bertram Cox fore, directed by you to request that we would favour you with our advice in the

natter.

That the territory of Zululand was acquired by the British Crown by conquest, and by a Proclamation dated the 14th May, 1887, was declared to be a British Possession.

That by a Commission under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, dated the 19th May, 1887, the Governor of the Colony of Natal was appointed to be Governor of the British Possession of Zululand, and that the Governor was thereby empowered, required and enjoined in Her Majesty's name, and on her behalf, to make by Proclamation such laws as might to him appear necessary for the peace, order and good government of Zululand aforesaid,

power of That the terms used in that Commission with reference to the Governor's legislation were similar to those usually employed when legislative powers were given by legislative enactment or Order in Council to Colonial Legislatures, and that the Laws and Regulations for the government of Zululand already mentioned were made by the Governor, Sir A. Havelock, in excrcise of the power conferred by the Commission. "That those Laws and Regulations were, on the annexation of Zululand to Natal, under Letters Patent, dated the 1st of December, 1897, continued in force by the Natal Act No. 37 of 1897, Section 4.

That the following questions appeared, under the circumstances, to arise in relation to the validity of Regulation No. 28 :—

(1) Could the Crown by Order in Council confer on the Courts created in Zululand the extra-territorial jurisdiction which that Regulation purported to confer ?

(2) If the preceding question was answered in the affirmative, was the Crown's power to confer such jurisdiction delegated to the Governor by the Commission above mentioned ?

That, as bearing on the first of those questions, Mr. Bertram Cox was to call attention to the Imperial Acts 24 and 25 Viet, c, 31, 26 and 27 Vict. c. 35, and 34 and 35 Vict. c. 8, which conferred certain extra-territorial jurisdiction on the Courts of the West African and South African Colonies, and to the fact that the Pacific Order in Council, 1893, was based on legislation by the Imperial Parliament, which expressly authorised the Crown to make such provisions relating to extra-territorial jurisdiction as were therein contained.

That, in connection with the second question, Mr. Bertram Cox was to refer (so far as the delegation of legislative powers by a Commission under the Royal Sign Manual and Siguet was concerned) to the Law Officers' Report dated 18th May, 1900,* and paragraph 3 of the Proclamation to which it related; and that (so far as the general question of the creation of extra-territorial jurisdiction was involved) to the Law Öfficers'

No. 36 B.

8819-25-41901 WI

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