1
CONFIDENTI AL
The Present Position in the Dependent Territories
1. In 1965, and again in 1970, the Secretary of State responsible for the dependent territories invited the Governors of those territories to consider introducing changes in legislation on capital punishment in order to bring it into line with that in the United Kingdom. As
a result of this invitation, capital punishment for murder was abolished in nine dependent territories: Ascension Island, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, The Gilbert Islands, Pitcairn, St Helena, The Solomons, Tristan da Cunha and Tuvalu (The British Indian Ocean Territory and the British Antarctic Territory, having no resident population, were not affected). The legislatures of Belize, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, The Turks and Caicos and Hong Kong resolved not to consider the proposed legislation and capital punishment for murder is accordingly retained in these seven dependencies. In these territories the Prerogative of Mercy is tetained by The Queen but the decision whether or not to exercise it has been delegated to the Governor. In all these territories the constitutional instruments by which the Prerogative was delegated contain a formal requirement for the Governor to hold consultations either with his Ministers or with a special committee before he takes his decision, which is personal and deliberate. If the Governor does not exercise the Prerogative, the Secretary of State does not advise The Queen to intervene, unless there has been an evident miscarriage of justice. This policy, which is based on the theory that the Governor and his advisers are in a much
CONFIDENTI AL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.