TNAG-0722-FCO40-920-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 130

Exercise of the Prenosntive of Mercy: Tranent To. 111on

5. Under the constitution of every DCP, power to exercise tha Royal prerogative of mercy is delegated to the Governor. In deciding whether or not to commute a death sentence in capital. cases he is required to act in his own deliberate judgment, after consulting either his Executive Commeil oz (in rore wdvanced territories) an Advisory Committee on the Frerogative of Mercy, and taking into account & report from the triel judge. In deciding whether or not to exercise the prerogative of mercy, the Governor is not subject to instructions from H M G as to how be should act.

6. The delegation of authority to the Governor leaves a residual power to exercise the prerogative of mercy with Her Majesty, who is advised by the Secretary of State. In 1947 Mr Creech-Jones made a statement in Parliament describing the Secretary of State's position over capital cases (copy attached). His statement reflected a long-standing practice which (with one exception in 1973 - see paragraph 8 ) has been observed by successive Secretaries of State up to the present time.

7. Over the years colonial Governors have conscientiously discharged the constitutional responsibility vested in them, in consultation with their Executive Councils or Advisory Committees, to consider all capital cases, and there has been no reason to suppose that the bed not taken into account all relevant circumstances. On rare occasions, the Secretary of State has brought considerations to their notice which might otherwise not have been given due weight (eg the Lightbourne case in Bermuda in 1959 and the Nairn case in the Bahamas in 1969). But there is no case on record where the residual prerogative has needed to be exercised because a Governor has failed to take into account a factor that would have rendered it unjust for him to let the law take its course. In recent years many more death sentences pronounced in the DOTS have been commited than have been carried out, because the Governor and his advisers have thought it right to exercise clemency. The dates of the last executions in the seven DCTs that still retain the death penalty are Belize 1974, Sermida 1943 (apart from the two in 1977), BRAMAN Virgin Islands 1972, Cayman Islands 1928, Hong Kong 1966, Montser 1960 and the Turks and Caicos Islands 1946.

CONFIDENTIAL