CONFIDENTIAL
Draft final paragraphs of paper on Capital Punishment in the DOTS
Conclusions
16. It follows that the only proper and effective method of securing
abolition or suspension of the death penalty for murder in those DOTS under whose law it is still maintained, is by means of legislation. Despite the practice described in paragraph 4 above, there is no
constitutional reason why legislation to this effect should not be
introduced in the United Kingdom Parliament. But if this course were
adopted, resentment would undoubtedly be cause in those DOTs where the local Government could not be brought to acquiesce in it. How
important this would be is a matter for political judgement.
17.
If legislation to abolish or suspend the death penalty in the DOTs
concerned were pending, this would provide the Governors with an
additional and powerful ground for commutation, and therefore in practice
no further executions would be likely to take place once the decision to
introduce legislation into the United Kingdom Parliament has been
announced.
18. Such a decision might, however, cause difficulty in relation to
Jersey and the Isle of Man, where constitutionally, abolition would need an enactment of the local legislature (the States of Jersey and Tynwald respectively). A United Kingdom Bill to abolish capital punishment in
the DOT might lead to pressure for similar action in relation to Jersey
and the Isle of Man. This would be contrary to the long-standing constitutional convention whereby Westminster does not seek to legislate
in matters wholly domestic to the Islands without the concurrence of their Governments (which would probably not be forthcoming in respect of so domestic a matter as the criminal law). The Royal Commission on the
Constitution emphasised the importance of respecting that convention.
It would therefore be necessary to resist such pressure.
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Private notes are available after approval.