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at sea are

punishable here.

18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 21.

30 & 31 Vict. c. 124, s. 11.

What offences p. 907). By sect. 21 of the amended Merchant Shipping Act, 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, "if any person, being a British subject, charged with having committed any crime or offence on board any British ship 18 on the high seas or in any foreign port or harbour,—or if any person, not being a British subject, charged with having committed any crime or offence on board any British ship on the high seas,-is found within the jurisdiction of any court of justice in her Majesty's dominions, which would have had cognizance of such crime or offence if committed within the limits of its ordinary jurisdiction, such court shall have jurisdiction to hear and try the case as if such crime or offence had been committed within such limits:-provided, that nothing contained in this section shall be construed to alter or interfere with the 12 & 13 Vict. c. 96." 19 The Merchant Shipping Act, 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 124, s. 11, contains a further provision as to offences by British subjects on board ships-it enacts, "if any British subject commits any crime or offence on board any British ship,--or on board any foreign ship to which he does not belong,-any court of justice in her Majesty's dominions, which would have had cognizance of such crime or offence if committed on board a British ship within the limits of the ordinary jurisdiction of such court, shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine the case as if the said crime or offence had been committed as last aforesaid." In two cases (Reg. v. Lopez and Reg. v. Sattler, 27 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 48; 1 Dears. & Bell, C. C. 525), it was decided that the meaning of the words "is found" in section 21 of 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, is the same as if the words "is actually present" [at the time of his trial] had been used. In the first of these cases, L., a foreign sailor, and one of the crew of the British ship O., maliciously and unlawfully wounded the prosecutor, also a foreigner and one of the crew of the same ship, whilst on the high seas and in the said ship, on a voyage from London to the coast of Africa. L. was brought against his will to England and the county of Devon, indicted there for having feloniously wounded the prosecutor with intent to do him some grievous bodily harm, and convicted of unlawfully wounding: --it was held, that L., being in a British ship, and under the protection of the British law, owed obedience to that law; and that as

18 The ship must belong to a British subject. See Reg. v. Bjornsen, 34 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 180; 1 Leigh & Cave, C. C. 545; and definition in Note 298, ante, p. 578. It is not necessary to prove the register or ownership of the ship under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, but it is sufficient if some of the crew prove that she belonged to an English port and was sailing under the British flag (see Reg. v. Von Seberg, 39 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 133; 22 Law T., N. S. 523).

19 The 12 & 13 Vict. c. 96, relates to the trial in the Colonies of offences committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty. It has been amended by 23 & 21 Vict. c. 88, and extended to India.

the offence, if committed in the county of Devon, would have been What offences cognizable by the court before which L. was convicted, that court at sea are punishable had jurisdiction to try him under the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 21. In here. the other case, S., a foreigner, committed a larceny in Huntingdonshire, and was afterwards arrested at Hamburg, with the assistance of the Hamburg police, by T., a city of London detective officer, who placed him against his will on board an English steamer lying in the river Elbe, in order that he might be conveyed to England for trial for the larceny. The steamer sailed for England with S. and the officer on board, and whilst the steamer was on the high seas, S., he then being in irons, shot the officer, who afterwards died in England of the wound. S. was indicted at the Central Criminal Court for murder, and convicted, the jury finding that he shot the constable out of malice and revenge, and not to effect his own liberation:-it was held, that the Central Criminal Court had jurisdiction to try S. under the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 21, inasmuch as S., while in a British ship on the high seas and entitled to the protection of the British law, and therefore subject to that law, had committed murder, which made it immaterial whether his capture at Hamburg, or his detention at the time of committing the crime, was lawful or unlawful.

punishable here.

24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 9.

As to that part of the enactment, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 42, s. 2, ante, What offences p. 903, with reference to the offences abroad for which an indict- abroad are ment may be preferred in England, the following are the provisions of certain acts and the cases bearing on them:-By 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 9 (which is in effect a re-enactment of 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, 8. 7), "where any murder or manslaughter shall be committed on land out of the United Kingdom, whether within the Queen's dominions or without, and whether the person killed were a subject of her Majesty or not, every offence committed by any subject of her Majesty, in respect of any such case, whether the same shall amount to the offence of murder or manslaughter, or of being accessory to murder or manslaughter, may be dealt with, inquired of, tried, determined and punished in any county or place in England or Ireland in which such person shall be apprehended or be in custody, in the same manner in all respects as if such offence had been actually committed in that county or place;-provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent any person from being tried in any place out of England or Ireland for any murder or manslaughter committed out of England or Ireland, in the same manner as such person might have been tried before the passing of this act." See further, p. 909, as to Accessories, &c. This enactment does not extend to offences committed by foreigners, notwithstanding they are committed on Englishmen and on board an English ship (R. v. Depardo, 1 Taunt. 26; R. & R. 134; R. v. Helsham, 4 C. & P. 394; R. v. Manoel de Mattos, 7 C. & P. 458; R. v. Serva, 1 Den. C. C. 104,

abroad are punishable here.

24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 9.

What offences 185; 2 C. & K. 53; Reg. v. Lewis, supra); but it comprehends all countries, though within the dominion of a foreign power (R. v. Sawyer, R. & R. 294). However, as respects offences by foreigners on board British ships on the high seas [or in a foreign port, Reg. v. Anderson, noticed ante, p. 904], as well as offences by British subjects on board British ships on the high seas or in any foreign port or harbour (18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 21; and Reg. v. Lopez and Reg. v. Sattler, noticed ante, p. 908),- -or offences by British subjects on board British ships or on board foreign ships, to which they do not belong (30 & 31 Vict. c. 124, s. 11, ante, p. 906),-or offences by any master, seaman or apprentice of any British ship either ashore or afloat (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 267, ante, p. 905), or offences relating to the customs on the water (16 & 17 Vict. c. 107, s. 275, ante, p. 905), they may be tried in England.

Sect. 10.

Also, by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 10 (which is a re-enactment of 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, s. 8), "where any person, being feloniously stricken, poisoned, or otherwise hurt upon the sea, or at any place out of England or Ireland, shall die of such stroke, poisoning or hurt in England or Ireland,-or being feloniously stricken, poisoned, or otherwise hurt at any place in England or Ireland, shall die of such stroke, poisoning, or hurt upon the sea, or at any place out of England or Ireland,-every offence committed in respect of any such case, whether the same shall amount to the offence of murder or of manslaughter, or of being accessory to murder or manslaughter, may be dealt with, inquired of, tried, determined and punished in the county or place in England or Ireland in which such death, stroke, poisoning or hurt shall happen, in the same manner in all respects as if such offence had been wholly committed in that county or place."20 In Reg. v. Lewis, noticed ante, p. 905, it was held that this enactment does not extend to a foreigner who dies in England from a blow inflicted by another foreigner in a foreign vessel on the high seas, but it would if the offence was committed on land within our dominions abroad, if the offender is a British subject or an alien subject to our laws, and the murdered person is a foreigner (Reg. v. Azzopardi, 2 Mood. C. C. 288; 1 C. & K. 203). In Nga Hoong v. Reg. (7 Cox's C. C. 489; 30 Law T. 356), it was held, that the corresponding section in 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, s. 8, did not extend the jurisdiction to persons who were not otherwise amenable to such jurisdiction, but applies only to cases in which the felony has been committed by persons who could commit that felony partly within and partly without the jurisdiction, and not to cases where the whole offence is committed in one jurisdiction.

There are other offences committed abroad which may be tried in

20 The 23 & 24 Vict. c. 122, authorizes the legislatures of possessions abroad to make ordinances enacting to the like effect as this section.

abroad are

this country upon indictments: as burning or destroying the Queen's What offences
ships, magazines, &c. out of the realm, the venue may be laid in any punishable

county within the realm (12 Geo. 3, c. 24, s. 2; Arch. Cr. Pl. by here.
Welsby, 15th ed. pp. 24, 25). For robbery and other crimes com-
mitted in Newfoundland, the venue may be laid in any county in
England (10 & 11 Will. 3, c. 25, s. 13). As to offences against the
Foreign Enlistment Act, 1870, see 33 & 34 Vict. c. 90, ss. 16, 17,
18. Misdemeanors committed in India may be tried in the Queen's
Bench in England (13 Geo. 3, c. 63). Governors of colonies guilty
of oppressing any of her Majesty's subjects beyond seas, or who
shall be guilty of any other crime or offence, may be tried in the
Court of Queen's Bench (11 & 12 Will. 3, c. 12). And by 42 Geo. 3,
c. 85, any person employed in any civil or military station, office
or capacity out of Great Britain guilty of any crime, misdemeanor
or offence in the execution, or under colour, or in the execution
of any such station, office or capacity, may be prosecuted and tried
in the Queen's Bench in England, either upon an information ex-
hibited by the attorney-general, or upon indictment found; in
which such crime shall be laid to have been committed in Middlesex
(see R. v. Shawe, 5 M. & Selw. 405, and Ex parte Eyre, late Governor
of Jamaica, 37 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 159; S. C., Reg. v. Vaughan,
9 B. & S. 329). Perjury in pleas, answers, affidavits, &c. taken out
of England in relation to Crown suits, are triable in England where
offender is in custody (28 & 29 Vict. c. 104, ss. 19, 43). As to
offences committed in foreign countries with which we have now
or may have extradition treaties, or in the Colonies, and the
offenders flying to this country, see post, p. 914. As to the trial of
offenders in the Colonies for crimes committed in places in which
the Crown has power or jurisdiction out of her Majesty's domi-
nions, see 6 & 7 Vict. c. 94, and the act 28 & 29 Vict. c. 116,
explaining the term "British Colony" used in it, which is to in-
clude any of H. M.'s possessions out of the United Kingdom, under
the first of which acts orders in council have been made creating a
consular jurisdiction with respect to offences committed by British
subjects in certain empires; and see also 29 & 30 Vict. c. 87.

and other

offences here

in respect to
foreign

countries or

powers.

By 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 4, persons conspiring here to murder Conspiracies any person, whether he be a subject of her Majesty or not, and whether he be within the Queen's dominions or not, and persons soliciting another to murder such person, are guilty of a misdemeanor. As to other offences in respect to foreign countries or powers, which are complete in this country,-such as other conspiracies, as to commit frauds or felonies, although the overt acts are abroad (see Reg. v. Kohn, 4 F. & F. 68, which was a conspiracy here to scuttle a Prussian ship at sea or in port), and also libels, &c., i. e. libels published in this country reflecting on persons holding situations of power and dignity in foreign countries (see

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R. v. Peltier, Holt on Libel, 78, &c.; R. v. D'Eon, 1 W. Bl. 517; R. v. Lord George Gordon, 2 Stark. on Slander, 217, 2nd ed.),—they have been held to be punishable here. It is yet a moot question whether in cases of offences partly committed in this country and partly abroad they can be tried here. As respects an accessory before the fact, and therefore a principal (24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, ss. 1, 2, 7, ante, pp. 886, 887) here to a murder abroad, he would not be punishable in this country under the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 9 (ante, p. 888), if the principal offenders, when foreigners, are not; but abettors here in misdemeanors (including the conspiracy to murder a person abroad, mentioned supra) would be (24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 8, ante, p. 888). See Reg. v. Bernard, 1 F. & F. 240, and also the case of Reg. v. Sans Garrett, 23 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 20; 1 Dears. C. C. 232, which seems to have an important bearing on the question whether the offence must not be whole and complete in this country. If a person, however, in a foreign country forges a document here, and sets other persons in motion as his agents, by whom the forged document is presented at a bank in England, that is an uttering of which he may be convicted here (per Pigott, J., Maidstone Assizes, July, 1865). But a person cannot be convicted here of receiving goods here which had been stolen in Guernsey (Reg. v. Debruiel, 11 Cox, C. C. 207, Byles, J.).

See further, post, Divisions 5, 6, 7 of this section of Chap. I.

FORM.

[Vide E, No. 12, Oke's "Formulist," 6th ed. p. 477.]

11 & 12 Vict. c. 42.

3. Where an Indictment found. 21

11 & 12 Vict. c. 42, s. 3, enacts,-"that where an indictment "shall be found by the grand jury in any court of oyer and Where indict-"terminer or general gaol delivery, or in any court of general

ment found, and accused at large.

Sect. 3.

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or quarter sessions of the peace, against any person who shall "then be at large,—and whether such person shall have been "bound by any recognizance to appear to answer to the same

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or not, the person who shall act as clerk of the indictments "at such court of oyer and terminer or gaol delivery, or as "clerk of the peace at such sessions, at which the said indict"ment shall be found, shall at any time afterwards,-after the

21 Indictments cannot be presented or found for certain offences without the charge having been first investigated before justices or the prosecution ordered by the Crown, &c. See 22 & 23 Vict. c. 17, ante, p. 874.

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