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was in 1975 (the sixth such sentence since 1959) and in the Isle of Man was in 1973 (the first such sentence since 1872). In 1975 it was reported that there was a general assumption in the Island community in Jersey that the Prerogative of Mercy would be exercised as it had been in relation to the five previous death sentences passed there since 1959. In the Isle of Man, although Tynwald had in 1957 and again in 1968 refused to abolish the death penalty, there appeared to be general acceptance in 1973 that the death sentence could not be carried out in the face of its abolition on
the mainland and no undue resentment in the Island of a decision to
interfere was expected or shown.
18. There is nothing to prevent the United Kingdom Government from passing legislation to abolish the death penalty in Jersey and the Isle of Man since Parliament has, in the last resort, the power to legislate for the Islands without their consent. It has, however, been. a long-standing practice not to legislate for the Islands without their. consent on matters of purely domestic concern and the Commission on the Constitution, in considering the constitutional position, expressed the view that the United Kingdom Government and Parliament should be very slow to seek to impose their will on the Islands merely on the grounds that they know better than the Islands what is good for them.
Constitutional considerations
19. It will be apparent from paragraphe 12 to 18 that course v involves
constitutional difficulties. It would be unconstitutional for the Crown
to purport to use its Prerogative powers to suspend or abrogate enacted
law. It cannot therefore lawfully exercise such powers to relieve offenders
generally of a statutory penalty they may have incurred and thus to abolish that penalty. On the other hand the Prerogative of Mercy, exercised within the limits described in paragraph 12, is part of our recognised constitutional
arrangements.
20. The Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary has proposed, as a method of
suspending capital punishment in the Dependent Territories during the present administration, to adopt a policy of pre determined and automatic
recommendation of reprieve in all these capital cases in which the Governor
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