1890_RENDITION_OF_CHINESE_ORDINANCE — Page 1

240

Title.

Preamble. [Extended by

Ord. No. 2 of 1871.1

Power to Magis trates to detain Chinese subjects having commit- ted offences against the laws of China, and taken refuge in Hongkong.

Nature of war- rant in such

Case,

Depositions in such case to be forwarded to the Governor.

ORDINANCE No. 2 of 1850.

Rendition of Chinese.

No. 2 of 1850.

An Ordinance to provide for the more effective carrying out of the Treaties between Great Britain and China in so far as relates to Chinese Subjects within the Colony of Hongkong.

WH

[20th March, 1850.]

HEREAS by the Treaties between Great Britain and China provision is made for the rendition for trial to officers of their own country of such subjects of China as have committed crimes and offences against their own Government, and afterwards taken refuge in Hongkong:-

1. Be it therefore enacted and ordained by His Excellency the Governor of Hong- kong with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, that if any complaint or information, or any communication by any officer of the Chinese Government be made or forwarded to any Magistrate or Court, (other than the Supreme Court,) desiring the arrest of any person being a Chinese subject and then within the said Colony of Hongkong, and alleging that such person has committed, or is charged with having committed, any crime or offence against the laws of China, or if it shall appear in the course of any investigation before such Magistrate or Court that any person being a subject of China has committed any such crime or offence, it shall and may be lawful for such Magistrate or Court to issue a summons or warrant for the appearance or apprehension of such person; or if such person be already in custody, it shall be lawful to detain such person, and to investigate the alleged crime or offence in the same manner as if such person were charged with a crime or indictable offence committed within the said Colony.

2. And be it further enacted and ordained, that in any such warrant of arrest or any subsequent warrant of committal or other warrant, it shall be sufficient to describe the crime or offence of such person in terms the same as, or similar to, those contained in such complaint, information, or communication aforesaid.

3. And be it further enacted and ordained, that if at the close of the said inves- tigation it shall appear to the said Magistrate or Court, that such person as aforesaid is a subject of China, and that there is probable cause for believing that the said person has committed such crime or offence, it shall and may be lawful for such Magistrate or Court to commit such person for safe custody to prison, and to direct the jailer to detain such person in prison until the said jailer shall receive some order or orders from the Governor of Hongkong, relative to the further detention, discharge, or trans- mission of such person to the nearest Chinese authorities or to such other Chinese authorities as to the said Governor shall seem fit: and the said Magistrate or Court shall, upon making such committal as aforesaid, transmit to the said Governor of Hongkong the minutes of such investigation, and all documents in his or its possession connected with the charge against such person, in order that such person may be dealt with according to the Treaties aforesaid.