29 Vic. c. 4. 29 Vic. c. 4. An Act to amend the Laws relating to Perjury and False Declarations.

(Assented to 27th March, 1866.)

Punishment I. Whosoever shall be convicted of perjury, or subornation of for perjury, &c. perjury or of any offence punishable as perjury, shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be kept in penal servitude for any period not exceeding seven years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement.

Punishment for false declarations.

A Judge or
Justice of the

Peace on rea-
sonable cause
may direct a

perjury.

II. Whosoever, in any declaration made in pursuance of, or under the authority of any Act of the General Assembly of the Bahama Islands, shall wilfully or corruptly declare to the truth of any matter material to be stated in such declaration, knowing the matter so declared to be false, shall be liable, on conviction, to be punished in the same and the like manner as if he had been convicted of perjury.

III. It shall be lawful for the Judges, or any Judge of the General Court, or for the Judge of the Court of Vice Admiralty, or for the Justices of the Court of Admiralty Sessions, or for any of Her Majesty's Justices, or Commissioners of Oyer and Terprosecution for miner, or Gaol Delivery, or for any Commissioner of Bankruptcy or Insolvency, or for the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of New Providence, or for any Justice or Justices of the Peace, sitting for the hearing, trial and determination of offences punishable on summary conviction, or for the hearing, trial, and determination of any case or cases of debt, trespass or other case in which Justices of the Peace have the power to adjudicate under the authority of any Act of Parliament or Assembly, in case it shall appear to him or them that any person has been guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury, in any evidence given, or in any affidavit, deposition, examination, answer or other proceeding made or taken before him or them, to direct such person to be prosecuted for such perjury, in case there shall appear to him or them a reasonable cause for such prosecution, and to commit such person so directed to be prosecuted until the next Session of Öyer and Recognizance Terminer or Gaol Delivery, unless such person shall enter into a may be taken. recognizance with one or more sufficient surety or sureties conditioned for the appearance of such person at such next Session of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol Delivery, and that he will then surrender and take his trial, and not depart the Court without leave; and to require any person he or they may think fit to enter into a recognizance conditioned to prosecute, or give evidence against such person so directed to be prosecuted as aforesaid, and to give to the party so bound to prosecute a certificate of the same being directed, which certificate shall be given without any fee or charge, and shall be deemed sufficient proof of such prosecution having been directed as aforesaid: Provided always, that no such direction or certificate shall be given in evidence upon any trial to be had against any person upon a prosecution so directed as aforesaid.

Proviso.

On information

IV. In every information for perjury, or for unlawfully, wilfor perjury the fully, falsely, fraudulently, deceitfully, maliciously or corruptly taking, making, signing or subscribing any oath, affirmation, declaration, affidavit, deposition, bill, answer, notice, certificate or

substance of

the offence charged upon

other writing, it shall be sufficient to set forth the substance of 29 Vic. c. 4. the offence charged upon the defendant, and by what Court, and before whom the oath, affirmation, declaration, affidavit, deposi- the defendant tion, bill, answer, notice, certificate or other writing was taken, will be suffimade, signed or subscribed, without setting forth the bill, answer, cient to set information, declaration or any part of any proceeding either in forth. law or in equity, and without setting forth the commission or authority of the Court or person before whom such offence was committed.

set forth the

V. In every information for subornation of perjury, or for cor- On information rupt bargaining, or contracting with any person to commit wilful for subornaand corrupt perjury, or for inciting, causing or procuring any tion of perjury, &c. &c., it will person unlawfully, wilfully, falsely, fraudulently, deceitfully, ma- be sufficient to liciously or corruptly to take, make, sign or subscribe any oath, affirmation, declaration, affidavit, deposition, bill, answer, notice, substance of certificate or other writing, it shall be sufficient, wherever such the offence perjury or other offence aforesaid shall have been actually com- charged. mitted, to allege the offence of the person who actually committed such perjury or other offence in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, and then to allege that the defendant unlawfully, wilfully, and corruptly did cause and procure the said person, the said offence in manner and form aforesaid, to do and commit: And wherever such perjury or other offence aforesaid shall not have been actually committed, it shall be sufficient to set forth the substance of the offence charged upon the defendant, without setting forth or averring any of the matters or things hereinbefore rendered unnecessary to be set forth or averred in the case of wilful and corrupt perjury.

VI. Any person convicted under this Act shall, in addition to Liability of a any sentence which the Court may pass on him, be liable to pay person conthe actual and necessary costs of the prosecution, including wit- victed under nesses' expenses, and the Court may adjudge the offender to be this Act. imprisoned for a further term beyond the term of imprisonment imposed by his sentence, not exceeding, however, the term of three months, until such costs are paid.

VII. The provisions of the 58, 59, 61, 62, 63 and 67 sections Parts of of the 28 Vic. c. 3, shall extend and apply to persons convicted under this Act.

VIII. The following parts of Acts shall be, and the same are hereby repealed on and from the commencement of this Act (that is to say):

So much of the Act 40 Geo. 3, c. 2, as declares in force in the Colony the statute 2 Geo. 2, c. 25.

The 18, 19 and 20 sections 15 Vic. c. 3, and the 3rd section 15 Vic. c. 8, and so much of the first section of the same Act as declares that if any declaration made under the said Act shall be false or untrue in any material particular, the person wilfully making such false declaration shall be guilty of a misdemeanor: Provided, however, that every offence which shall have been wholly or partly committed against any of the said enactments before this Act comes into operation, shall be dealt with, inquired of, tried, determined and punished; and every penalty in respect of such offence shall be recovered in the same manner as if any the said Acts and parts of Acts had not been repealed; and that every act duly done, and every warrant and other instrument

28 Vic. c. 3,

extended to this Act.

Certain parts

of Acts repealed from the commencement of this Act.

29 Vic. c. 4. duly made or granted before this Act comes into operation, shall continue and be of the same force and effect as if the said enactments had not been repealed; and that every right, liability, privilege and protection in respect of any matter or thing committed or done before this Act comes into operation, shall continue and be of the same force and effect as if the said enactments had not been repealed; and that every action, prosecution and other proceeding which shall have been commenced before this Act comes into operation, or shall thereafter be commenced, in respect of any such matter or thing, may be prosecuted, continued and defended in the same manner as if the said Acts and parts of Acts had not been repealed.

Proviso.

Commencement of Act.

IX. This Act shall commence and take effect on and from the first day of June, 1866.

Coroner to put

in writing the

evidence taken by him before a Jury.

Justices and

Coroners may

be tried for

neglect at the discretion of

the Judges of

the General Court.

PART III.
CLASS V.

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE IN SUPERIOR COURTS,
AND MISCELLANEOUS CRIMINAL STATUTES.
4 Wm. 4, c. 25. An Act for improving the Administration of
Criminal Justice in these Islands, for suspending certain

Acts therein mentioned, and for other purposes. (Feb-
ruary 15th, 1834.)

I. II. & III. SECTIONS of this Act relating to the taking of bail by Justices of the Peace in cases of felony, and the taking of examinations and informations in cases of felonies and misdemeanors, and binding persons by recognizance to prosecute and give evidence, are repealed by 12 Vic. c. 7.

IV. 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 anything material, touching the said manslaughter or murder, or the said offence, of being accessary to murder, to appear at the next sitting of the General Court, 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 said Court.

V. That if any Justice or Coroner shall offend in anything 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.

VI. VII. & VIII. Sections repealed by 28 Vic. c. 29.

ficient to be

IX. And in order to remove the difficulty of stating the names 4 W. 4, c. 25. of all the owners of property in the case of partners and other joint owners, Be it, &c., That in any indictment or information for any One of the felony or misdemeanor, wherein it shall be requisite to state the owners is sufownership of any property whatsoever, whether real or personal, named in any which shall belong to, or be in the possession of, more than one indictment to person, whether such persons be partners in trade, joint tenants, state the parceners or tenants in common, it shall be sufficient to name one ownership. of such persons, and to state such property to belong to the person so named, and another, or others, as the case may be and whenever in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor, it shall be necessary to mention, for any purpose whatsoever, any partners, joint tenants, parceners or tenants in common, it shall be sufficient to describe them in the manner aforesaid: and this provision shall be construed to extend to all Joint Stock Companies and trustees.

X. And for preventing abuses from dilatory pleas, Be it, &c., Abuses from That no indictment or information shall be abated by reason of dilatory pleas any dilatory plea of misnomer, or of want of addition, or of wrong ad- prevented. dition of the party offering such plea, if the Court shall be satisfied, by affidavit or otherwise of the truth of such plea, but in such case the Court shall forthwith cause the indictment or information to be amended according to the truth, and shall call upon such party to plead thereto, and shall proceed as if no such dilatory plea had been pleaded.

technical niceties pre

vented.

XI. And that the punishment of offenders may be less frequently The escape of intercepted in consequence of technical niceties, Be it, &c., That offenders from no judgment upon any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor, whether after verdict or outlawry, or by confession, default or otherwise, shall be stayed or reversed for want of the averment of any matter unnecessary to be proved, nor for the omission of the words "as appears by the record," or of the words, "with force and arms," or of the words "against the peace," nor for the insertion of the words "against the form of the statute," instead of the words "against the form of the statutes," or vice versâ, nor for that any person or persons mentioned in the indictment or information is or are designated by a name of office, or other descriptive appellation, instead of his, her or their proper name or names, nor for omitting to state the time at which the offence was committed, in any case where time is not of the essence of the offence, nor for stating the time imperfectly, nor for stating the offence to have been committed on a day subsequent to the finding of the indictment, or exhibiting the information, or on an impossible day, or on a day that never happened, nor for want of a proper or perfect venue, where the Court shall appear by the indictment or information to have had jurisdiction over the offence.

&c.

XII. That no judgment, after verdict upon any indictment or No judgment information for any felony or misdemeanor, shall be stayed or to be stayed or reversed for want of a similiter, nor by reason that the jury pro- reversed for cess has been awarded to a wrong officer, upon an insufficient any misnomer, suggestion, nor for any misnomer or misdescription of the officer returning such process, or of any of the jurors, nor because any person has served upon the jury who has not been returned as a juror by the Provost Marshal or other officer: and that where the

1867.

I

4 W. 4, c. 25. offence charged has been created by any statute, or subjected to a greater degree of punishment, the indictment or information shall, after verdict, be held sufficient to warrant the punishment prescribed by the statute, if it describe the offence in the words of the statute.

Certain forms

XIII. AND WHEREAS trials for criminal offences within these dispensed with. Islands are attended with some forms which frequently impede the due administration of justice, and it is therefore expedient to abolish such forms, and also to abolish the benefit of clergy, and to make better provision for the punishment of offenders in certain cases; Be it, &c., That if any person not having privilege of peerage, being arraigned upon any indictment for treason, felony or piracy, shall plead thereto a plea of "Not Guilty," he shall by such plea, without any further form, be deemed to have put himself on the country for trial, and the Court shall, in the usual manner, order a jury for the trial of such person accordingly.

Persons plead ing "Not Guilty," to be

put on trial.

Persons standing mute, the Court may record a plea of “Not Guilty,” and proceed to

trial.

In indictments
for treason,
&c., not more
than twenty
persons may

XIV. That if any person being arraigned upon or charged with any indictment or information for treason, felony, piracy, or misdemeanor, shall stand mute of malice, or will not answer directly to the indictment or information, in every such case it shall be lawful for the Court, if it shall so think fit, to order the proper officer to enter a plea of "Not Guilty" on behalf of such person, and the plea so entered shall have the same force and effect as if such person had actually pleaded the same.

XV. That if any person indicted for any treason, felony, or piracy, shall challenge, peremptorily, a greater number of the men returned to be of the jury than twenty in any of the said cases, every peremptory challenge beyond that number, in any of the be challenged. said cases, shall be entirely void, and that the trial of such person shall proceed as if no such challenge had been made.

Duty of Jury relative to the

lands, &c., of felons.

Benefit of

XVI. That no plea setting forth any attainder shall be pleaded in bar of any indictment, unless the attainder be for the same offence as that charged in the indictment.

XVII. That where any person shall be indicted for treason or felony, the jury empannelled to try such person shall not be charged to inquire concerning his lands, tenements or goods, nor whether he fled for such treason or felony.

XVIII. That benefit of clergy, with respect to persons convicted clergy to felons of felony shall be abolished; but that nothing herein contained shall prevent joinder in any indictment of any counts which might have been joined before the passing of this Act.

abolished.

When felons are not to suffer death.

How persons convicted of

XIX. That no person convicted of felony shall suffer death, unless it be for some felony which was excluded from the benefit of clergy, before or on the first day of the present Session of Assembly, or which hath been, or shall be made, punishable with death by some Act or Statute passed after that day.

XX. That every person convicted of any felony not punishable with death shall be punished in the manner prescribed by the any felony not statute or statutes specially relating to such felony; and that punishable with death are every person convicted of any felony, for which no punishment to be punished. hath been or hereafter may be specially provided, shall be deemed to be punishable under this Act, and shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years; and, if a male, to be once, twice or thrice publicly or privately whipped (if the Court shall so think fit), in addition to such imprisonment.