TNAG-0721-FCO40-919-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 15

CONFIDENTIAL

said was simply a description of a long-standing practice;

and, in strict law, no formal steps need be taken to alter

the practice. Any Secretary of State is free, if he wishes,

to reconsider all aspects of a capital case and reach his ow

decision as to whether the Crown should be advised to

exercise the residual prerogative though it might be

unconstitutional for him to give a direction to Governors that

he wished them to refer all capital cases to him as a matter

of course for review here. It has been the practice,, whenever

/Government if the Secretary of State decided on

commutation against local advice.

}

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8 above, when the Governor decided in the Tsoi case not to

commute, the Secretary of State advised the Crown to do so.

In general, however, the Secretary of State does not intervere

by reviewing cases and advising on the exercise of the

residual prerogative.

13. A departure from the practice described by Mr Creech-Jones

would produce a two-tier system under which

any case in

which the Governor had decided to let the law take its

course would automatically be reviewed in the F C O. The

disadvantage of this solution is that it would tend to

undermine the Governor's position as the principal authority

concerned, and might lead to more petitions to the Crown and

/for the Secretary of State to consider all factors raised

in the petition, and to consult with the Governor about

them as necessary.

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death sentence in every case so as- effectively to abolish

or suspend capital punishment in the DOTS concerned. But

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