CO129-534-9 Law of Piracy- case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong 1-4-1931 - 20-4-1932 — Page 33

20th January, 1932.

2033

Dear Howard,

I believe that you were concerned in the discussion which

took place in Gwyer's room regarding the decision of the Court

of Hong Kong in the piracy case. Gwyer was not able to go

fully into the matter before he left for India, and he

accordingly asked me to do so.

As I understand it, the position is that the Court of

Hong Kong have decided that an accused person cannot be

convicted of piracy where no robbery has occurred. It has

been suggested in various quarters that the effect of this

decision is likely to be serious on the ground that if it

represents the true state of the law there is no way of

dealing effectively with people who are caught red-handed

before they have been able to carry their operations to a

successful conclusion.

A preliminary investigation of the matter has however

led me to doubt whether this is in fact the position, and

before I proceed to make a full investigation of the question

whether the decision of the Court is open to criticism, there

is one point which I should like you to consider.

In the course of his Judgment Chief Justice Wood refers to

P.T.0.