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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24TH DECEMBER, 1897.
Acceptance of bribe.
Offering of bribe.
Punishment
of misde-
meanors where
3. Every public servant who accepts, or obtains, or agrees to accept, or attempts to obtain, or causes or procures to be obtained, froin any person, whether by himself or by any other person and whether for himself or for any other per- son, any bribe, with a view to fufluence his conduct as such public servant, or to inclife him to do or to omit to do any act contrary to his duty as such public servant, or contrary to the rules of honesty and integrity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years, or to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or to both.
4. Every person who gives or offers, or causes or pro- cures to be given or offered, to any public servant, any bribe, for himself or for any other person, with a view to influence his conduct as such public servant, or to incline him to do or to omit to do any act contrary to his duty as such public servant, or contrary to the rules of honesty and integrity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to imprison- ment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years, or to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or to both.
5.-(1.) Where any person is convicted in the Supreme Court of a misdemeanor at common law and no punishment is provided by any Act or Ordinance for such offence, he punishment shall be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding one year, or to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or to both.
not other- wise
specified.
Repeal of sect. 7 of Ord. No. 2 of 1869.
(2.) Where any person is convicted of an offence declared by any Act or Ordinance to be a misdemeanor, and the punishment for such offence is not specified, he shall be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding one year, or to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or to both.
6. Section 7 of Ordinance No. 2 of 1869, entitled “An Ordinance to make further provision in relation to Criminal Law and Procedure," is hereby repealed.
Reasons and Objects.
In England, every person convicted of a misdemeanor, for which no special punishment is provided by law, is Irable to fine and imprisonment without hard labour (both or either) and to be put under recognizances to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, at the discretion of the Court. The statutes 3 Geo. 4 c. 114 and 14 and 15 Vict. c. 100 s. 29 have, however, added power to inflict hardl labour in additiou, in a number of cases, and the local Ordinance, No. 2 of 1869, section 7, conferred a like power upon the Court here, in the cases mentioned in 14 and 15 Vict. c. 100 s. 29. In the more modern codes, approved by the Secretary of State and in force in some of the Colonies, the law authorises imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding a year in all cases of mis- demeanor where no special punishment is provided, and it is thought that a similar punishment, with or without the addition of a fine, should be provided in this Colony.
The misdemeanor of bribery is treated very severely in the Straits Settlements, where a maximum punishment of three years imprisonment with or without hard labour, as well as a fine, may be inflicted not only on public servants, who accept bribes, but also on those who offer them. The pro- visions of the Penal Code in force in that Colony as regards offences of this, description are, however, somewhat com plicated.
In Hougkong, no power of inflicting hard labour on offenders convicted of accepting or offering bribes exists, and this state of things should not be allowed to continue. It is thought that the provisions of sections, 3 and 4 of this Ordinance will meet the requirements of the case.
Section 7 of Ordinance No. 2 of 1869, which omitted some misdemeanors which might fitly have born included, in the circumstances of this Colony, is, accordingly repealed.
W. MEIGI GOODMAN, Attorney General.
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