| |
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION ACT 1802
|
| |
CHAPTER LXXXV.
|
| |
An Act for the trying and punishing in Great Britain Persons holding publick Employments, for Offences committed abroad; and for extending the Provisions of an Act passed in the Twenty-first Year of the Reign of King James made for the Ease of Justices and others in pleading in Suits brought against them, to all Persons, either in or out of this Kingdom, authorized to commit to safe Custody. [22d June 1802.]
|
| |
11 Will. 3. c. 12.
|
| |
13 Geo. 3. c. 63.
|
| |
24 Geo. 3. sess. 2. c. 25.
|
| |
Offences committed by persons employed in any publick service abroad may be prosecuted in the Court of King’s Bench in England; and may be laid in Middlesex, and the offenders punished as if the offences had been committed in England.
|
| |
WHEREAS persons holding and exercising publick employments out of Great Britain often escape punishment for offences committed by them for want of courts having a sufficient jurisdiction in or by reason of their departing from the country or place where such offences have been committed, and that such persons cannot be tried in Great Britain for such offences as the law now stands, in as much as such offences cannot be laid to have been committed within the body of any county: And whereas it is therefore expedient that such and the like provisions as are contained in an Act passed in the eleventh and twelfth years of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Third, intituled “An Act to punish governors of plantations of this kingdom for crimes by them committed in the plantations,” and in an Act passed in the thirteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled “An Act for establishing certain regulations for the better management of the affairs of the East India Company, as well in India as in Europe,” and in an Act passed in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled “An Act for the better regulation and management of the affairs of the East India Company, and of the British possessions in India, and for establishing a court of judicature for the more speedy and effectual trial of persons accused of offences committed in the East Indies,” should be extended and applied to the punishment of such offenders: May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that, from and after the passing of this Act, if any person who now is, or heretofore has been, or shall hereafter be employed by or in the service of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, in any civil or military station, office, or capacity out of Great Britain, or shall heretofore have had, held, or exercised, or now has, holds, or exercises, or shall hereafter have, hold, or exercise any publick station, office, capacity, or employment, out of Great Britain, shall have committed, or shall commit, or shall have heretofore been, or is, or shall hereafter be guilty of any crime, misdemeanor, or offence, in the execution, or under colour, or in the exercise of any such station, office, capacity, or employment as aforesaid, every such crime, offence, or misdemeanor may be prosecuted or enquired of, and heard and determined in his Majesty’s Court of King’s Bench here in England, either upon an information exhibited by his Majesty’s attorney general, or upon an indictment found, in which information or indictment such crime, offence, or misdemeanor may be laid and charged to have been committed in the county of Middlesex, and all such persons so offending, and also all persons tried under any of the provisions of the said recited Act passed in the reign of King William aforesaid, or this Act, or either of them, for any offence, crime, or misdemeanor, and not having been before tried for the same out of Great Britain, shall, on conviction, be liable to such punishment as may, by any law or laws now in force, or any Act or Acts that may hereafter be passed, be inflicted for any such crime, misdemeanor, or offence committed in England, and shall also be liable, at the discretion of his Majesty’s Court of King’s Bench, to be adjudged to be incapable of serving his Majesty in any station, office, or capacity, civil or military, or of holding or exercising any publick employment whatever.
|
|
|
The Court of King’s Bench, on motion, may award a writ of mandamus to any court of judicature, or the governor, &c. of the country where the offence was committed, to obtain proofs of the matters charged in the indictment; which shall be obtained by viva voce evidence, and the same shall be transmitted to the Court of King’s Bench, and admitted on the trial &c.
|
2. And . . . in all cases of indictments found or informations exhibited under and by virtue of this Act, it shall be lawful for his Majesty’s said Court of King’s Bench, upon motion to be made, and such notice thereof as to the said Court of King’s Bench may appear to be sufficient, by or on behalf of his Majesty’s attorney general or other prosecutor, or of the defendant or defendants, to award, at the discretion of the said court, a writ or writs of mandamus to any chief justice and judges, or any chief justice or other judge singly for the time being, of any court or courts of judicature in the country or island, or near to the place where the crime, offence, or misdemeanor shall be charged in such indictment or information to have been committed, or to any governor or lieutenant governor or other person having any chief authority in such country, island, or place, or to any other person or persons residing there, as the case may require, and as to the said Court of King’s Bench may, under all the circumstances of the case, seem most expedient, for the purpose of obtaining and receiving proofs concerning the matters charged in any such indictment or information; and the person or persons to whom such writ or writs shall be directed and sent are hereby respectively authorized and required to hold a court, session, or meeting, with all convenient speed, for the examination of witnesses and receiving other proofs concerning the matters charged in such indictment or information respectively, and in the meantime to cause publick notice to be given of the holding the said court, session, or meeting, and to issue such summons or other process as may be requisite for the attendance of witnesses, and to adjourn from time to time as occasion may require; and such examination or examinations shall be then and there openly and publickly taken viva voce in the said court, session, or meeting, upon questions put by any such prosecutor or prosecutors, defendant or defendants, or any agent or agents, person or persons, on behalf of the said attorney general or other prosecutor or prosecutors, and defendant or defendants respectively, if any such shall attend for that purpose and by the court, person or persons to whom such writ shall be directed and sent as aforesaid, upon the respective oaths of witnesses, and the oaths of skilful interpreters if necessary, administered according to the forms of their several religions, and shall, by some officer or person sworn for that purpose, be reduced into writing on parchment or paper, and in case any duplicate or duplicates shall be required by or on behalf of the prosecutor, or the defendant or defendants respectively, into two or more writings on parchment or paper, as the case may require; and such examination or examinations shall be sent to his Majesty in his Court of King’s Bench closed up, and under the seal or seals of the person or persons before whom such examination or examinations as aforesaid shall have been taken; and the person or persons taking such examination or examinations as aforesaid shall deliver the same to any person or persons appointed by the said Court of King’s Bench to receive the same, or shall transmit the same in such manner as the said Court of King’s Bench shall direct; and all such examinations shall, with all convenient speed, be delivered to one of the clerks in court of his Majesty’s Court of King’s Bench, in the Crown office of the said court, for the safe custody thereof; and every clerk in the said Court of King’s Bench, to whom any examination or examinations shall be delivered, is hereby authorized to administer an oath to the person delivering the same to him, in such form as the said Court of King’s Bench shall direct; and such examination or examinations shall be allowed and read upon the trial of any such indictment or information, or any other subsequent proceeding thereon or relating thereto, and shall be deemed as good and competent evidence as if the witness or witnesses, whose examination or examinations shall be so read, had been present and sworn and examined viva voce at such trial, any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding, saving all just exceptions to be taken to any such examination or examinations, or any part thereof, when the same shall be offered to be read as aforesaid; and all persons concerned shall be entitled to take copies of such examinations in the custody of such clerk in court at their own costs and charges.
|
|
|
Court of King’s Bench may order an examination de bene esse, in cases where viva voce evidence cannot be had.
|
3. And . . . it shall also be lawful for the said Court of King’s Bench, upon motion to be made, and such notice thereof as aforesaid, by or on behalf of his Majesty’s attorney general or other prosecutor, or defendant or defendants in any such indictment or information, to order an examination de bene esse of witnesses upon interrogatories, in any case where the viva voce testimony of such witnesses cannot conveniently be had, to be taken before an examiner to be appointed by the said court; and the depositions taken upon such interrogatories shall be afterwards admitted to be read in evidence upon the trial of such indictment or information, or in any other subsequent proceeding thereon or relating thereto, and shall be deemed good and sufficient evidence in the law, saving all just exceptions to be taken to such depositions when the same shall be offered to be read as aforesaid.
|
|
|
Persons to whom such writs of mandamus shall be directed, shall do all things necessary for the due execution thereof by compelling the appearance and giving evidence of witnesses, &c.
|
4. And . . . it shall be lawful for any person or persons to whom any such writ or writs of mandamus shall be directed or order sent as aforesaid, and, in case the same shall be directed or sent to more than one person, for so many of them as shall for that purpose be appointed by the said writ or required by the said order, and who shall act in the execution thereof, and such person and persons is and are hereby respectively authorized and required, to administer all oaths required to be taken under any of the provisions of this Act, or necessary for the due execution of any such writ or order, or any act, matter, or thing relating thereto, and to examine upon oath all persons whom he or they find occasion to summon, and all other persons whom he or they shall think fit to examine, touching all matters and things necessary for the due execution of any such writ or order as aforesaid; and such person and persons respectively to whom such writ shall be directed or order sent as aforesaid, or so many of them as shall in that behalf be appointed and shall act in the execution thereof as aforesaid, shall have full power and authority to compel the appearance and giving evidence of any witness upon any such writ or order, and to issue special summons or other process for that purpose, and may proceed upon such summons or other process, by imprisonment of the body of any person refusing to appear or give evidence, in like manner as any court or courts of record within this kingdom, having competent authority for that purpose, may proceed against any person or persons for any contempt committed against the authority of any such court.
|
|
|
Persons giving false evidence shall be subject to the pains inflicted for perjury.
|
5. And . . . in case any person or persons in the course of his, her, or their examination upon oath, under and by virtue of the said recited Act of the twenty-fourth year of his present Majesty, or this Act, shall wilfully and corruptly give false evidence, such person or persons so offending, and being thereof duly convicted, shall be, and is and are hereby declared to be, subject and liable to such pains and penalties as persons guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury shall be liable to by any law or laws then in force in the kingdom, island, or place where such false evidence shall have been given as aforesaid.
|
|
|
Provisions of 21 Ja. 1. c. 12. extended to persons all having publick employment in this kingdom or in the colonies and foreign possessions of the Crown who by law are empowered to commit persons to safe custody.
Where any action shall be brought for any thing done out of this kingdom, it may be laid in Westminster, or in any county where the defendant shall reside.
|
6. And . . . whereas it is expedient to extend the provisions of an Act, passed in the twenty-first year of the reign of his Majesty King James the First, intituled “An Act to enlarge and make perpetual the Act made for ease in pleading against troublesome and contentious suits prosecuted against justices of the peace, mayors, constables, and certain other his Majesty’s officers, for the lawful execution of their office, made in the seventh year of his Majesty’s most happy reign,” to all persons who may by law commit to safe custody, either in or out of this kingdom: Be it therefore enacted, that from and after the passing of this Act, the said recited Act and all the provisions therein contained shall extend, and be deemed, taken, and construed to extend, to all persons having, holding, or exercising, or being employed in, or who may hereafter have, hold, or exercise, or be employed in any publick employment, or any office, station, or capacity, either civil or military, either in or out of this kingdom, and who under and by virtue or in pursuance of any Act or Acts of Parliament, law or laws, or lawful authority within this kingdom, or any Act or Acts, statute or statutes, ordinance or ordinances, or law or laws, or lawful authority in any plantation, island, colony, or foreign possession of his Majesty, now have or may hereafter have by virtue of any such publick employment, or such office, station, or capacity, power or authority to commit persons to safe custody; and all such persons, having such power or authority as aforesaid, shall have and be entitled to all the privileges, benefits, and advantages given by the provisions of the said Act as fully and effectually, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been specially named therein: Provided always, that where any action, bill, plaint, or suit upon the case, trespass, battery, or false imprisonment, shall be brought against any such person as is in this Act described as aforesaid, in this kingdom, for or upon any act, matter, or thing done out of this kingdom, it shall be lawful for the plaintiff bringing the same to lay such act, matter, or thing, to have been done in Westminster, or in any county where the person against whom any such action, bill, plaint or suit, shall be brought shall then reside, any thing in this Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.
|
