CO129-534-9 Law of Piracy- case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong 1-4-1931 - 20-4-1932 — Page 35

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If this be so, it seems to me that what really happen ed

in the case under cons ideration is that, not for the first

time, an indictment was laid under the wrong Act, and that if

the persons had been indicted under the Statute to which I

have referred all would have been well.

Everybody, I think, feels that it is only possible to

promote legislation if there is a real gap in the existing law,

but if my theory is correct, I venture to doubt whether such

a gap ex is ts. It is clear that in any legislation which might

be produced it would be necessary to specify some overt act

on the part of the accused which would form the offence, and at

the moment I am far from clear how such an act could well be

described in any more general terms than those used in the

section I have quoted. The only circumstance which is not

covered is where the "pirates" have perhaps come alongside a

vessel and are repulsed before they have assaulted any of the

crew of the ship or done anything which might end anger the life

of such person. I should have thought such an occurrence would

be rare.

I should be very glad if you would kindly turn this matter

over in your mind and let me know whether you think that it is

worth while drawing official attention to this section and

P.T.O.