moved from his said post of Lieut.-Governor, and it having been given in evidence, in the course of the said examina tion, that Philip Patriarche, Esq., and several other Jurats of the said Royal Court, and also Elias Dumaresq, his Majesty's then Deputy Advocate, as likewise several members of the Estates, had not acted agreeable to that duty, which by their several stations, they owe to his Majesty, but had, in an unwarrantable manner, obstructed the execution of his Majesty's aforementioned Orders in Council; We do, therefore, in his Majesty's name, and by his express command, hereby signify his Majesty's high displeasure at such undutifull and unprecedented proceedings, and do hereby require that they do not, for the future, upon any pretence whatsoever, presume to disobey, or in the least delay complying with any order of his Majesty in Council. But do pay and cause to be paid, an exact, speedy, and unanimous obedience to the same, as they will answer the contrary, at their perill. And his Majesty being well pleased with the dutyfull behaviour of the said Philip Le Geyt, William Dumaresq, Charles De Carteret, Nicholas Dumaresq, John Pipon, and John Le Hardy, Esqrs., and of the Reverend Mr. Francis Payne, and of such others of the members of the Estates, as have paid a due obedience, and shewed a ready complyance to the carrying his Majesty's Orders in Councill into execution, we doe also, in his Majesty's name, and by his express command, signify his Royal approbation of such their behaviour. And to the end that this signfication of his Majesty's pleasure in the premisses may be made known to all persons concerned, you are to communicate the contents hereof to the Estates of the said Island, to be assembled for this purpose. And you are likewise to cause the same to be forthwith entered in the publick Registry of the said Royal Court, that the same may remain upon record in the said Island. And so we bid you farewell, from the Court at St. James, the eighth day of April, 1731.-Your loving friends, WILMINGTON, P. ILAY, ARGILL & GREENWICH, COBHAM, DORSETT, CARTERET, MARCHMOUNT, RAYMOND.

"To the Bayliff and Jurats of his Majesty's Royal Court of Jersey.'

Orders, Warrants, and Letters, not to be executed without leave of the Court.-The following is a translation of an act of Court, 28th July, 1601, forbidding the Viscount and Denunciators from serving any order or process, without first obtaining the permission of the Court. "Whereas various com

missions have been obtained through the importunity of seve ral persons from their honours, the Lords of the Right Honourable the Privy Council, whereby several of her Majesty's subjects are greatly harrassed, contrary to the privileges of the island; and avail themselves of, and abuse of the ministerial functions of the Viscount or Denunciator, the whole contrary to their office, which depends entirely on the Bailiff, and the Magistracy. For these causes it has been found expedient that they shall not execute any orders, commands or warrants, by the command or request of such commissions, without the permission and leave of the aforesaid Bailly and Magistracy.

Orders, Warrants and Letters, not to be executed until presented to the Court for registry.-Conformably to a certain Order of the King and Council of the 21st of March, 1769, enrolled by the States on the 3rd of July following. "The laws and privileges of the island of Jersey are confirmed as of ancient times, and no orders, warrants or letters missive of any sort shall be put into execution within the island, till after having been presented to the royal court, in order that they may be registered and made public; and in case any such orders, warrants, or letters missive, shall be found contrary to the charters and privileges, or burthensome to the said islands, the registry, publication, and execution, may be suspended by the royal court, until the case has been represented to his Majesty, and his will and pleasure on the same be signified. And as to acts of parliament, in which the island is named, and in which the inhabitants are interested, they are to be specially set forth under the great seal of England, and forwarded to the said island, to be there registered and published, in order that the people may have full knowledge of them so that they may conform themselves and avoid the penalties of transgression.-Code, 1771. It will be seen by the above that the Court can suspend the execution of all Orders, Warrants and Letters, but not of Acts of Par. liament in which the island is named: and though it is desirable that the latter as well as the former should be registered and published, in order that the people may have full knowledge of them, and avoid the penalties of transgression, and it is usual to require, such formalities to be observed, yet inasmuch as the Court of Jersey was wont to withold such formalities, under the erroneous opinion, that by so doing they restrained the authority of Parliament, and rendered their acts a dead letter, the Privy Council has declared in all their late orders, that they shall be no longer deemed essential to an Act. See Acts of Parliament, their registration not essential.

Ordinances passed by the States are not certified by an officer as containing nothing that is inconsistent with the constitution, or those laws of England which have force in the island, as is usually done in the Colonies and other dependencies of the Crown.

Ordre Provisoire or writ of arrest may be obtained on pay. ment of two shillings and sixpence, and for the arrest ten shillings whereon a party is held to bail, for debts from two shillings to any amount upwards. This document may be had and kept for general use, on delivery of it to an officer, and proves a ready instrument for immediate arrest. La Caution or Bail is in general easily procured by persons settled in the Island, for their appearance to answer the action, but not for payment of the debt. The following is a translation of the Writ or Warrant, called Ordre Provisoire, (Provisional Order) by which persons and property are held to bail :-" It is permitted by justice to A. B., to cause to be seized, arrested, put in execution, and to be sequestrated, if it is required, the most apparent property of his debtors, in all places where the same be found, and particularly upon his lands, to be applied to the payment of that which will be found to be rightly and justly due to him. As to strangers or persons expatriable (not possessed of real property) he may cause to be arrested, their goods, vessels, merchandize and effects, or themselves in person, if they do not make good their bargains, agreements, debts or promises, or if they do not give sufficient bail to fulfil them; which shall be executed by the Viscount or by one of the Denunciators, Officers of Justice, or, in their absence, with respect to the said expatriable persons, by the Constable, or by one of the Centeniers of the parish.-Reasons reserved. "Given at St. Helier, this day of

(Signed)

18

"J. DE VEULLE, Bailiff." Pardon and Mitigation of punishment.-Pardon is a prerogative of the Crown, but may be granted by Act of Parliament: the former acquits a person of all corporal penalties and forfeitures annexed to his offence, but the latter restores the purity of his blood, after being corrupted, and puts him in his original position; in subsequent proceedings the former must be specially pleaded, but the latter need not, for all persons in authority must ex-officio take notice of it. There are but few cases ever submitted to the merciful consideration of the Crown in the Channel Islands, either for pardon or mitigation of punishment, because the Courts of Jersey and Guernsey generally usurp that prerogative themselves. Take the following case for example. In 1832, a black boy was convicted in

Guernsey of robbery and arson. There was no doubt in the minds of the Bailiff and Jurats, that the evidence adduced, brought the offences home to the prisoner, and what is equally important, that the law was clear and express, and that it had in such cases provided no other punishment than death; but as there were some mitigating circumstances, the King's Procureur would not draw his conclusions according to law, and recommend the prisoner to mercy; but asked that the prisoner might be condemned to receive 200 lashes, by the hand of the hangman, to be banished for ever from the bailiwick, (that is transported to England) and to have his property, if any, con. fiscated. It appears that he entertained doubts of his Majesty's clemency, as if a recommendation of the Court to the Throne, was a mere farce, aud that the prisoner would be hanged as a matter of course, without the merits of his case ever being enquired into the Procureur, is reported to have said: "for the number of fires which had been lately caused by incend. iaries in England, might lead his Majesty to refuse mercy to the prisoner." A greater libel on the prerogative of the Crown could not be uttered! The Bailiff, who is reputed to be a sound Lawyer, as well as a humane man, was for administering the law, as he found it, let the Pocureur conclude what he would; and he did not hesitate to declare, that "the prisoner ought to be condemned to death, but recommended to mercy, as the Court could not inflict a lesser punishment than that provided by law. He did not forsee the danger mentioned by the Procureur,as the whole of the circumstances would be submitted to his Majesty." The Lieut.-Bailiff, very justly observed.— "The laws of which we are only the organs, punish such crimes as those with which the prisoner is charged, with the utmost severity. His Majesty alone by his Royal prerogative has the right to commute the penalty imposed by the laws, he is still the source of mercy, and I have no objection to give the prisoner the chance of obtaining it from the King, by forwarding to him a statement of the proceedings, and also to add the circumstances favourable to the accused, such as his age, his confession, and the alarm he gave to his master's family, whereby they had an opportunity afforded them of saving their lives, which would not have been the case if he had not called them. But with regard to myself, I have not this power, my duty is, however painful it may be to me, to conform to the law, and therefore I must pass sentence of death upon the prisoner; the confiscation of his property, if he have any to his Majesty, or to those to whom it may appertain. and costs, save and excepting his Majesty's pardon." Mr. Peter Le Pelley

said: "the precedent of the Attorney-General, he considered as a dangerous one; he wished he could acquiesce in it, but he could not. The King only could mitigate the law and believing that the prisoner was guilty he would be for condemning him to death, in the mean time recommending him to mercy. "Mr. J. Le Messurier and Mr. J. Hubert supported these opinions. "So far so good." The News from which we take the case, observed" But what will the reader think, when he is told that five magistrates took upon themselves a legislative as well as a judicial authority; that they actually made a law for the case, because they supplanted it, by individual propositions of what the punishment should be, the recognition of which principle unties the bonds of the social compact, renders a Court of Justice, a mere mountebank, by making the will of a magistrate the law, & damns the security of the public weal ! The facts are, Mr. John Guille and Mr. John Le Marchant proposed that the criminal should be imprisoned two months, and Mr. H. O. Carré and P. B. Dobrée, three months, and each of them, that he should be afterwards transported for life (perhaps to Southampton, Weymouth or Plymouth, and there set at liberty); in the latter opinion, Mr. W. Collings likewise joined, although he had previously refused to give any judgment, on account of his relationship to the prosecutor, which was a very proper feeling; but it would seem that in Guernsey a Jurat may recall his objections, and on second thought make that legally right, which at first thought, was morally wrong: because, doubtless the end would sanctify the means. There being four Magistrates who gave judgment agreeably to, and four contrary to, the law, the Bailiff whose sentiments were known, having no vote, except a casting one, was prevented by a stratagem from using it; which was, that Mr. Collings should recall his scruples, join in the latter opinion, and thus obtain a majority, and compel the court to inflict a lesser punishment than that provided by law, which the Bailiff had positively declared it could not do! We have often heard of an English judge sending a jury back to reconsider their verdict when it has been contrary to law, and it appears that in the present case, the Bailiff again asked Messrs. Guille, Le Marchant, Collings, Carré and Dobrée, their opinions, when they all concur. red in sentencing the criminal to "three months solitary imprisonment and to perpetual banishment." [Mind, that is transportation to England!] How far it was consistent with his duty to allow this judgment to be recorded as that of the court, after what he had stated, we leave him to determine! We may be told that the Guernsey Court is a court of equity,