TNAG-0600-FCO40-748-Capital-punishment-in-Dependent-Territories-1977 — Page 69

.E.R.

In an

the Prerogative in these two Islands and in the dependent territories is that whereas the Governor of a dependent territory has a delegated authority

to advise the Queen in capital cases, the Lieutenant-Governors of the

Islands do not. It is the responsibility of the Island authorities concerned,

through the Lieutenant-Governor, formally to refer such cases to the

Home Secretary and it is his responsibility to advise the Queen.

Isle of Man case, in accordance with a memorandum of procedure in capital

cases which was agreed in 1931 with the then Lieutenant-Governor, the

Home Secretary would give full weight to the views expressed by the Insular

Authorities and in the event of any difference of view, would consult them

before reaching a final decision, but there could be no question, in either

the Isle of Man or Jersey, of the Home Secretary intervening in the

non-exercise of the Prerogative since it is he alone who can exercise it.

6 Every capital case in Jersey and the Isle of Man is referred to the Home Secretary and considered individually, taking into account the particular circumstances of the case as well as the relevant public

considerations.

Among the latter are that no execution for murder has taken place in Jersey since 1959 and in the Isle of Man since 1872. The

last occasion on which a sentence of death for murder was passed in

Jersey 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.

7

There is nothing to prevent the UK 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

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