Criminal Law (India) Act 1828

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1828 c. 74
Anno Regni GEORGII IV. Britanniarum Regis, Nono. An Act for improving the Administration of Criminal Justice in theEast Indies .

(9 Geo. 4) C A P. LXXIV.

[25th July 1828]

'WHEREAS many wholesome Alterations have lately been made in the Criminal Law ofEngland , and the Administration thereof, by Authority of Parliament; and it is expedient that some of the said Alterations should be extended to the British Territories under the Government of the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies ;' Be it therefore 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 this Act shall commence and take effect on and from the First Day ofMarch One thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, and shall extend to all Persons and all Places, as well on Land as on the High Seas, over whom or which the Criminal Jurisdiction of any of His Majesty's Courts of Justice erected or to be erected within the British Territories under the Government of the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies does or shall hereafter extend.

S-II Who may be admitted to Bail on a Charge of Felony, and who may not.

II Who may be admitted to Bail on a Charge of Felony, and who may not.

II. And be it enacted, That where any Person shall be taken on a Charge of Felony or Suspicion of Felony before One or more Justice or Justices of the Peace, and the Charge shall be supported by positive and credible Evidence of the Fact, or by such Evidence as if not explained or contradicted shall in the Opinion of the Justice or Justices raise a strong Presumption of the Guilt of the Person charged, such Person shall be committed to Prison by such Justice or Justices in the Manner hereinafter mentioned; but if there shall be only One Justice present, and the whole Evidence given before him shall be such as neither to raise a strong Presumption of Guilt nor to warrant the Dismissal of the Charge, such Justice shall order the Person charged to be detained in Custody until he or she shall be taken before Two Justices at the least; and where any Person so taken, or any Person in the first Instance taken before Two Justices of the Peace, shall be charged with Felony or on Suspicion of Felony, and the Evidence given in support of the Charge shall in their Opinion not be such as to raise a Strong Presumption of the Guilt of the Person charged, and to require his or her Committal, or such Evidence shall be adduced on behalf of the Person charged as shall in their Opinion weaken the Presumption of his or her Guilt, but there shall notwithstanding appear to them, in either of such Cases, to be sufficient Ground for Judicial Enquiry into his or her Guilt, the Person charged shall be admitted to Bail by such Two Justices in the Manner hereinafter mentioned: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to require any such Justice or Justices to hear Evidence on behalf of any Person so charged as aforesaid, unless it shall appear to him or them to be meet and conducive to the Ends of Justice to hear the same: Provided also, that in all Cases where any Person or Persons charged as aforesaid shall be brought before One Justice, at any Place beyond the local Limits of the Jurisdiction of any of His Majesty's Courts of Justice erected or to be erected within theBritish Territories under the Government of the said United Company, it shall be lawful for such Justice alone either to commit such Person to Prison or to admit him to Bail as hereinbefore directed.

S-III Before any Person charged with Felony, &c. shall be bailed or committed, the Justices shall take down in Writing the Examination, &c. and bind Witnesses to appear at the Trial.

III Before any Person charged with Felony, &c. shall be bailed or committed, the Justices shall take down in Writing the Examination, &c. and bind Witnesses to appear at the Trial.

III. And be it enacted, That the Justice or Justices of the Peace, before he or they shall admit to Bail or commit to Prison any Person arrested for Felony or on Suspicion of Felony, shall take the Examination of such Person, and the Information upon Oath of those who shall know the Facts and Circumstances of the Case, and shall put the same, or as much thereof as shall be material, into Writing, and the Two Justices shall certify such Bailment in Writing; and every such Justice shall have Authority to bind by Recognizance all such Persons as know or declare any thing material touching any such Felony or Suspicion of Felony, to appear at the next Court of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol Delivery, or Superior Criminal Court or Sessions of the Peace, at which the Trial thereof is intended to be, then and there to prosecute or give Evidence against the Party accused; and such Justices and Justice respectively shall subscribe all such Examinations, Informations, Bailments, and Recognizances, and deliver or cause the same to be delivered to the proper Officer of the Court in which the Trial is to be, before or at the opening of the Court.

S-IV Examinations, &c. to be delivered to the Court.

IV Examinations, &c. to be delivered to the Court.

IV. And be it enacted, That every Justice of the Peace before whom any Person shall be taken on a Charge of Misdemeanor, or Suspicion thereof, shall take the Examination of the Person charged, and the Information upon Oath of those who shall know the Facts and Circumstances of the Case, and shall put the same, or as much thereof as shall be material, into Writing, before he shall commit to Prison or require Bailfrom the Person so charged; and in every Case of Bailment shall certify the Bailment in Writing, and shall have Authority to bind all Persons by Recognizance to appear to prosecute or give Evidence against the Party accused, in like manner as in Cases of Felony; and shall subscribe all Examinations, Informations, Bailments, and Recognizances, and deliver or cause the same to be delivered to the proper Officer of the Court in which the Trial is to be, before or at the opening of the Court, in like Manner as in Cases of Felony.

S-V Duty of Coroner.

V Duty of Coroner.

V. And be it enacted, That every Coroner, upon any Inquisition before him taken, whereby any Person shall be indicted for Manslaughter or Murder, or as an Accessory to Murder before the Fact, shall put in Writing the Evidence given to the Jury before him, or as much thereof as shall be material, and shall have Authority to bind by Recognizance all such Persons as know or declare any thing material touching the said Manslaughter or Murder, or the said Offence of being accessory to Murder, to appear at the next Court of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol Delivery, or Superior Criminal Court or Sessions, at which the Trial is to be, then and there to prosecute or give Evidence against the Party charged; and every such Coroner shall certify and subscribe the same Evidence, and all such Recognizances, and also the Inquisition before him taken, and shall deliver the same to the proper Officer of the Court in which the Trial is to be, before or at the opening of the Court.

S-VI Penalty on Justices and Coroners.

VI Penalty on Justices and Coroners.

VI. And be it enacted, that if any Justice or Coroner shall offend in any thing contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of these Provisions, the Court to whose Officer any such Examination, Information, Evidence, Bailment, Recognizance, or Inquisition ought to have been delivered, shall, upon Examination and Proof of the Offence in a summary Manner, set such Fine upon every such Justice or Coroner as the Court shall think meet.

S-VII Accessory before the Fact may be tried as such, or as a substantive Felon, by any Court which has Jurisdiction to try the principal Felon.

VII Accessory before the Fact may be tried as such, or as a substantive Felon, by any Court which has Jurisdiction to try the principal Felon.

VII. And for the more effectual Prosecution of Accessories before the Fact to Felony, be it enacted, That if any Person shall counsel, procure, or command any other Person to commit any Felony, whether the same be a Felony at Common Law or by virtue of any Statute or Statutes made or to be made, the Person so counselling, procuring, or commanding shall be deemed guilty of Felony, and may be indicted and convicted either as an Accessory before the Fact to the principal Felony, together with the principal Felon, or after the Conviction of the principal Felon, or may be indicted and convicted of a substantive Felony, whether the principal Felon shall or shall not have been previously convicted, or shall or shall not be amenable to Justice, and may be punished in the same Manner as any Accessory before the Fact to the same Felony, if convicted as an Accessory, may be punished; and the Offence of the Personso counselling, procuring, or commanding, howsoever indicted, may be enquired of, tried, determined, and punished by any Court which shall have Jurisdiction to try the principal Felon, in the same Manner as if such Offence had been committed at the same Place as the principal Felony, although such Offence may have been committed either on the High Seas, or at any Place on Land, whether within His Majesty's Dominions or without; and that in case the principal Felony, and the Offence of counselling, procuring, or commanding, shall have been committed in different Places, the last-mentioned Offence may be enquired of, tried, determined, and punished in any of His Majesty's Courts of Justice within theBritish Territories under the Government of the said United Company, having Jurisdiction to try either of the said Offences: Provided always, that no Person who shall be once duly tried for any such Offence, whether as an Accessory before the Fact or as for a substantive Felony, shall be liable to be again indicted or tried for the same...

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