CO129-543-4 Piracy- Case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong and others 10-2-1933 - 2-3-1934 — Page 51

jure gentium since the crime if it were one was

51

committed by foreigners on the High Seas.

By the

judgment of the Full Court of Hong Kong delivered on the

1st April, 1931, this question was determined in the

negative with the result that the conviction was quashed

and the prisoners were discharged. No appeal lies from

the above judgment of the Full Court which is and remains

binding upon all the Courts of Hong Kong; in addition

the question of law involved in this judgment is one of

far-reaching importance since it is conceived that others

of His Majesty's Criminal Courts in the Far East will

regard the judgment as one which, though not binding on

them, they ought to follow, whereby the freedom of

action of His Majesty's Naval Forces in the suppression

of piracy on the High Seas in the Far East may, if the

law has been rightly declared in the said judgment, be

seriously curtailed.

I am

of the Epinion

Sir Philip Cunliffe Lister is advised that a

question of law arises which it would be proper, if His

Majesty so thought fit, to refer to the Judicial

Committee of the Privy Council in pursuance of Section 4

kaeri

of the Judicial Committee Act, 1833, and I am therefore

2.