CO129-054 - Sir Bowring - 1856 [1-2] — Page 173

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of its own;

but not the debtor's prison.

The Court is unprovided with cells for the temporary custody of offenders.

When

a prisoner is convicted he is

circumstances conveyed

conveyed

under ordinary circumstances immediately to the Criminal Jail

by a Constable or the Court Usher, and afterwards detained there by "Warrant addressed to the jailor. The preparation of the warrant necessarily occupies

more or less time according

The

occupies

according to the nature of the offence charged, and the prisoner until it's completion lies in jail by force only of the presumptive authority derived from

minutes of the

of the judgment signed by the Magistrate, an abstract of which judgment accompanies the warrant.

It is said to be questionable whether

this removal from the Court to the Jail without a written warrant is

legal.

There could

be no

question

of the legality of confining

a

prisoner by verbal order during the interval between conviction and

the

completion of the warrant if cells were

attached to the court, even were these

cells twice as distant as the jail wards now used for the purpose.

Reporting these circumstances for the information of His Excellency The Governor, I have the honor to respectfully suggest that the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown be taken on the point.

in apparent uncertainty, and if the legality of the present practice be found doubtful that suitable...