TNAG-2084-FCO40-2969-Death-penalty-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 61

CONFIDENTIAL

Background

3.

Although we have abolished the death penalty for

murder in the UK it remains on the statute books of seven

of our Dependent Territories: the five Caribbean

Dependent Territories, Bermuda, and Hong Kong.

The Constitutional Position

4.

In the Caribbean DTS and Bermuda, judicial appeals

are made from the local Supreme Courts to the local

Courts of Appeal, and ultimately to the Judicial

Committee of the Privy Council. Thereafter, an appeal for clemency may be made to the Governor, advised by his Mercy Committee. (The Mercy Committee in Bermuda consists of local Ministers and representatives of public opinion. In most Caribbean DTs, the Mercy Committee is

formed by the Executive Council, ie Ministers and senior

officials). The Creech Jones doctrine, which dates from

the 1940s, places the onus of the ultimate decision on

the Governor. The Governor acts in loco majestatis;

British Ministers would not advise The Queen to intervene

except in the exceptional circumstances of a manifest miscarriage of justice. In practice, therefore, a

Governor's decision on commutation can take little or no

account of the will of the British Parliament regarding capital punishment, as expressed in successive free

votes.

/The case for change

CONFIDENTIAL