Directory_and_Chronicle_1933 — Page 156

104

Assessors.

Penalty for non-attend.

ance.

Application of criminal law of England,

Power to

summon Offenders.

ORDERS IN COUNCIL

(5) A jury shall be required to give an unanimous verdict; provided. that, with the consent of parties, the verdict of a majority may be taken in civil cases.

33.—(1) An Assessor shall be a competent and impartial British subject, of good repute, nominated and summoned by the Court for the purpose of acting as Assessor.

j.i.

(2) In the Supreme Court there inay be one, two, or three Assessors, as the Court thinks fit.

(3) In a Provincial Court there shall ordinarily be not fewer than two, and not more than four, Assessors. Where; however, by reason of local circumstances, the Court is able to obtain the presence of one Assessor only, the Court may, if it thinks fit, sit with one Assessor only: and where, for like reasons, the Court is not able to obtain the presence of an Assessor, the Court may, if it thinks fit, sit without an Assessor- the Court in every case, recording in the Minutes its reasons for sitting with one Assessor only or without an Assessor.

(4) An Assessor shall not have any voice in the decision of the Court in any case, civil or criminal; but an Assessor dissenting, in a civil case, from any decision of the Court, or, in a criminal case, from any decision of the Court or the conviction or the amount of punishment awarded, may record in the Minutes his dissent, and the grounds thereof, and shall be entitled to receive without payment a certified copy of the Minutes.

34.--(1) Any person failing to attend as juror or Assessor according to a summons shall be deemed guilty of a contempt of Court, and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £10, but a person shall not be liable to fine for non-attendance unless he is resident in the Consular district in which the Court sits.

(2) Any such fine shall not be levied until after the expiration of fourteen days. The proper officer of the Court shall forthwith give to the person fined notice in writing of the imposition of the fine, and require him within six days after receipt of the notice to file an affidavit excusing non-attendance (if he desire to do so). The Court shall con- sider the affidavit, and may, if it seems proper, remit or reduce the fine.

III.-CRIMINAL MATTERS.

35.-(1) Except as regards offences made or declared such by this or any other Order relating to China or Corea, or by any Rules or Regu- lations made under any Order;

Any act that would not by a Court of Justice having criminal jurisdiction in England be deemed an offence in England, shall not, in the exercise of criminal jurisdiction under this Order, be deemed an offence, or be the subject of any criminal proceeding under this Order.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Order, criminal jurisdiction under this Order shall, as far as circumstances admit, be exercised on the principles of, and in conformity with, English law for the time being, and with the powers vested in the Courts of Justice and Justices of the Peace in England, according to their respective jurisdiction and authority.

Local Jurisdiction in Criminal Matters.

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36. Every Court may cause to be summoned or arrested, and brought before it, any person subject to and being within the limits of its juris- diction, and accused of having committed an offence cognizable under this Order, and may deal with the accused according to the jurisdiction of the Court and in conformity with the provisions of this Order.