directions, penalties shall be paid into such fund as may be in charge of Her Majesty's representative in the foreign country to which the Act is applied, which may correspond with the public treasury of a British possession.

Summary proceedings in respect of offences, or to obtain Summary orders for the payment of money, under the applied Act insti- proceedings. tuted in a Consular Court, must be commenced within six months after the commission of the offence; or if both or either of the parties happen "during such time not to be within the jurisdiction of any Court capable of dealing with the case," then the time is limited to "two months after they both first happen to arrive or to be at one time within such jurisdiction."

execution of

Documents which the Act requires to be executed in the Proof of presence of, or to be attested by, any witness, may be proved by documents. the evidence of any person who is able to bear witness to the requisite facts, without calling the attesting witness.

The sections 527, 528, and 529, which deal with the arrest of foreign ships which have in any part of the world injured any property belonging to the Queen or to any British subjects, when the ship is in any port or river in the United Kingdom, or within three miles of the coast, have no application to any Court outside the United Kingdom.

The remaining sections of Part X. apply to legal procedure in Scotland.

IV. 19 & 20 Vict. c. 113. An Act to provide for taking evidence in Her Majesty's dominions in relation to civil and commercial matters pending before foreign tribunals.

of witnesses by Consular

request of

By the application of this Act, the judge of the Consular Court Examination is empowered to order the examination of witnesses within his jurisdiction-that is to say, British subjects in the country in Court on which his Court is established-on the application of a foreign foreign Court. Court in relation to any civil or commercial matter pending before it. The attendance of persons named in the request, and the production of the specified documents, may be compelled by order, and disobedience to the order may be punished, according to the law administered by the Consular Court.

The application is to be supported by a certificate of the Minister, or other diplomatic agent, or if there be none, by the Consul General or Consul, of the country from which the request emanates, received as such by the Sovereign of the

Examination of witnesses

by Consular Court on commission from any of the Queen's

Courts.

Provisions applicable to IV. and V.

country in which the Consular Court is established, that the matter in relation to which the application is made is a civil or commercial matter pending before a Court of the country of which he is the diplomatic agent or Consul; and that the Court is desirous of obtaining the testimony of the witness to whom the application relates. In the absence of such a certificate, however, other evidence of these facts is admissible.

V. 22 Vict. c. 20. An Act to provide for taking evidence in suits and proceedings pending before tribunals in Her Majesty's dominions in places out of the jurisdiction of such tribunals.

By the application of this Act, the judge of the Consular Court is empowered to order the examination of persons who are within his jurisdiction—that is to say, British subjects in the country in which his Court is established-in accordance with the terms of any commission directed to him by any Court within the Queen's dominions, or by any other Consular Court, for obtaining testimony in any suit pending before such Court. The attendance of the persons named in the commission, and the production of the documents specified, may be compelled by order, and disobedience to the order may be punished, according to the law administered by the Court.

Both in the case of this and the preceding statute expenses are to be paid to witnesses according to the law administered by the Court ordering the examination :

Persons giving false evidence are to be deemed guilty of perjury:

The right of a witness to refuse to answer questions tending to criminate himself is to be governed by the law administered by the Consular Court:

The chief, or only, judge of the Consular Court may frame rules and orders for giving effect to the Act and regulating procedure under it; and also with regard to all costs incidental to the examination of witnesses and the remuneration of examiners ordered under this or any other Act, including the Evidence by Commission Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 74, post, P. 74).

This is probably the correct interpretation of the section as applied.

VI. 22 & 23 Vict. c. 63. An Act to afford facilities for the more certain ascertainment of the law administered in one part of Her Majesty's dominions when pleaded in the Courts of another part thereof.

ministered

By the application of this Act, the Courts in one part of Her Statement of Majesty's dominions, and also her Consular Courts, may, in any law adaction, civil or criminal, depending before them in which it is by Consular necessary "to ascertain the law applicable to the facts of the Court to be given on case as administered in any other part of Her Majesty's application of dominions," or by any other of her Consular Courts, remit a any of Queen's Courts, and case raising the necessary points of law, for the opinion of such vice versa. other Court. Either party to the action may petition the Court whose opinion is to be obtained, to be heard on the argument either in person, or by counsel.

Certified copies of the opinion are to be given to each of the parties. When the opinion has been given, either party may move the Court before which the action is pending to apply the opinion to the facts, or the Court may order the opinion to be submitted to the jury with the other facts of the case, as evidence of the foreign law stated in it.

Where there is an appeal from the judgment in the action to the Queen in Council, or to the House of Lords, the opinion in question may be also brought under review if the judgments of the Court which pronounced it are reviewable by the tribunal which hears the appeal.

VII. 23 & 24 Vict. c. 122. An Act to enable the Legislatures of Her Majesty's possessions abroad to make enactments similar to the enactment of the Act Ninth George the Fourth, chapter thirty-one, section eight.

The recited Act was "an Act for consolidating and amending Power to the statutes in England relating to offences against the person"; Consular legislate for and the recited section provided that "where any person, being Court in feloniously stricken, poisoned, or otherwise hurt at any place in offences respect of England, should die of such stroke, poisoning, or hurt upon against the the sea or at any place out of England, every offence committed resulting in in respect of any such case, whether the same shall amount to death in the offence of murder or of manslaughter, or of being accessory country. before the fact to murder, or after the fact to murder or manslaughter, might be dealt with, inquired for, tried, determined,

F

person

another

[30 June, 1890.]

and punished in the country or place in England in which such stroke, poisoning, or hurt should happen, in the same manner in all respects as if such offence had been wholly committed in that country or place."

The Act gives power to the Legislatures of the Colonies to make a similar provision; but its application to a country where the Queen has only jurisdiction by Treaty is a little difficult. For the words "the Legislature of any of Her Majesty's possessions abroad," we may have to read, "Her Majesty's representative in any foreign country in which Her Majesty has jurisdiction, where such representative has had any legislative powers conferred upon him"; and in the majority of cases he has power to make rules for the peace, order, and good government of the Queen's subjects. On the other hand, by the second subsection of section 5 of the principal Act, Her Majesty in Council is to be considered, for the purposes of the applied statutes, as the Legislature of the country. The application of the statute 23 & 24 Vict. c. 122, would, if this be the true reading, only give Her Majesty power to "legislate" in respect of the offences with which the statute deals. Special legislation in the Order in Council would therefore be necessary to give the Consular Courts jurisdiction in respect of them.

This course is the one which is adopted in the Orders in Council. In Article 56, for example, of the Brunei Order, special provision is made both for the case contemplated by this statute, and also for those dealt with by the Act of 1849, and the Merchant Shipping Act, 1867, sec. 11.

The article concludes in the following way:

"(3) The foregoing provisions of this article shall be deemed to be adaptations for the purposes of this Order, and of the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890, of the following enactments described in the First Schedule to that Act (that is to say) : "The Admiralty Offences (Colonial) Act, 1849. "The Admiralty Offences (Colonial) Act, 1860. "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1867, sec. 11.

---

"And the said enactments shall, so far as they are repeated and adopted by this article (but not further or otherwise), extend to Brunei."

VIII. 24 & 25 Vict. c. 11. An Act to afford facilities for the better ascertainment of the law of foreign countries when pleaded in Courts within Her Majesty's dominions.

Court may

By the application of this Act the Consular Courts may, in Consular any action in which it is necessary, remit a case for the opinion request of a Court in any foreign State with which Her Majesty may opinion of foreign Court have made a convention for that purpose, in order to ascertain on questions the law of that State as to the facts in question. When the of foreign opinion of the foreign Court has been received, the Consular Court is to apply it to the facts of the case as if it had been pronounced by such Court upon a case reserved for its opinion: or it may be submitted to the jury with the other facts of the case as conclusive evidence of the foreign law therein stated.

And, vice versa, a Consular Court may be requested by a Court in any foreign country with which such a convention exists, to give an opinion on a case submitted to it as to the law administered by such Consular Court on the facts set out in the question the questions being argued before the Consular Court by the parties or their counsel.

:

No conventions on the subject have been concluded up to the present time.

IX. 30 & 31 Vict. c. 124, sec. II. The Merchant Shipping

Act, 1867.

law.

British subjects on

By the application of this section, British subjects committing Offences by crime or offence on board any British ship, or on board any any foreign ship to which they do not belong, are to be tried by the board ship. Consular Court "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."

X. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 94, sec. 51. The Conveyancing and Land

Transfer Act, Scotland, 1874.

By the application of this section, the production to any Production of Consular notary public of the probate of the will or other testamentary probate in settlement of a person deceased, issued by any Consular Court lieu of will. which has probate jurisdiction, or an exemplification of such probate, is "for the purpose of expeding a notarial instrument, or otherwise completing a title to any estate in land or to any heritable security" to be held as equivalent to the production of the will or settlement itself.