3. Notwithstanding anything in "The Indian Councils Act "* or in any other Act of Parliament contained, any law or regulation which shall hereafter be made by the Governor-General in Council in manner in the said "Indian Councils Act" provided shall not be invalid by reason only that it may repeal or affect any of the provisions of the said Act of the 3rd and 4th years of King William IV, chapter 85, contained in Sections 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, and 86 of the said Act.

ACT of the British Parliament, for more effectually punishing Offences against the Laws relating to the Slave Trade. [India.]

[39 & 40 Vict., cap. 46.]

[August 11, 1876.]

WHEREAS under an Act passed in the Session holden in the 32nd and 33rd years of the reign of Her present Majesty [cap. 98], the Governor-General of India in Council is empowered to make laws for native Indian subjects of Her Majesty without and beyond British India:

And whereas under an Act passed in the Session holden in the 28th and 29th years of the reign of Her present Majesty [cap. 17]. the Governor-General of India in Council is empowered to make laws for all British subjects of Her Majesty within the dominions of Princes and States in India in alliance with Her Majesty, whether in the service of the Government of India or otherwise :

And whereas the several Princes and States in India in alliance with Her Majesty have no connections, engagements, or communications with foreign Powers, and the subjects of such Princes and States are, when residing or being in the places hereinafter referred to, entitled to the protection of the British Government, and receive such protection equally with the subjects of Her Majesty :

And whereas it is expedient to make provision for more effectually punishing offences against the laws relating to the Slave Trade by British subjects and other persons protected by the British Government in such places:

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen'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, as follows:

1. If any person, being a subject of Her Majesty or of any Prince or State in India in alliance with Her Majesty, shall, upon + Page 595.

# 24 & 25 Vict., cap. 67.

+ Page 596.

the high seas, or in any part of Asia or Africa which Her Majesty may from time to time think fit to specify by any Order in Council in this behalf, commit any of the offences defined in Sections 367, 370, and 371 (in the Schedule to this Act respectively recited) of Act 45 of 1860, passed by the Governor-General of India in Council and called "The Indian Penal Code," or abet within the meaning of the fifth chapter of the said Penal Code the commission of any such offence, such person shall be dealt with, in respect of such offence or abetment, as if the same had been committed in any place within British India in which he may be or may be found.

2. If the Governor-General of India in Council shall, at a meeting for making laws and regulations, amend the provisions of the said Sections 367, 370, and 371 of the said Penal Code, or any of them, or the said fifth chapter thereof so far as relates to the abetment of any of the offences forbidden by such sections, or make any further provision for preventing or suppressing the making, buying, or selling of slaves, or any of the offences comprised in the said three sections, the Secretary of State for India shall, unless Her Majesty has disallowed such amendment or further provision, lay a copy of the amending Act before each House of Parliament; and after the same shall have lain on the table of both Houses of Parliament for the space of 40 days, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, unless either House of Parliament shall present an address to Her Majesty to the contrary, to direct by Order in Council that the provisions of the first section of this Act shall apply to the law so amended or enlarged, and the same shall be applicable accordingly.

3. For the purpose of obtaining evidence of the commission of the offences made punishable by this Act or any Act of Parliament relating to Slavery or the Slave Trade, every High Court in India shall have, as respects the persons in the first section of this Act referred to, and as respects any British colony, settlement, plantation, or territory wherein any witness may be, the same powers as are conferred on the Court of Queen's Bench by the fourth section of an Act made and passed in the session of Parliament holden in the 6th and 7th years of Her Majesty's reign, chapter 98,* with respect to such British colonies, settlements, plantations, and territories as are therein referred to.

And every High Court may, if it thinks fit, issue such commission as is mentioned in Section 330 of Act 10 of 1872, passed by the Governor-General of India in Council, and called "The Code of Criminal Procedure," to any Consular Officer of Her Majesty in the parts of Asia or Africa specified in any Order of Her Majesty in Council under Section 1 of this Act, or to any Political Officer or Agent of the Governor-General of India in Council or of any Indian

* Vol. XXXIII. Page 888.

Government in the said parts or in the dominions of any Prince or State in India in alliance with Her Majesty, or to any magistrate in Her Majesty's Indian dominions.

And the depositions taken by virtue of the said powers or under such commission shall be deemed by every court of original or appellate jurisdiction in India, in any trial or proceeding under this Act or any Act of Parliament relating to Slavery or the Slave Trade, to be as good and competent evidence as if the witnesses deposing had been present and examined vivâ voce and had made oath or affirmation as required by law.

4. And whereas by certain Orders of Her Majesty in Council, made by virtue of an Act made and passed in the session of Parliament holden in the 6th and 7th years of Her Majesty's reign, chapter 94, which Orders are dated respectively the 9th day of August, 1866,† and the 4th November, 1867, it is ordered that the provisions of such Orders relating to British subjects shall extend and apply to all subjects of Her Majesty, whether by birth or by naturalization, and also to all persons enjoying Her Majesty's protection in the several dominions mentioned in such Orders respectively:

It is hereby declared and enacted that for the purposes of the said Orders in Council, and of any Orders in Council which Her Majesty may hereafter think fit to make by virtue of the said Act of the 6th and 7th years of Her Majesty's reign, chapter 94, all subjects of the several Princes and States in India in alliance with Her Majesty, residing and being in the several dominions comprised in such Orders respectively, are and shall be deemed to be persons enjoying Her Majesty's protection therein.

5. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to restrict the legislative power which the Governor-General of India in Council possesses at meetings for the purpose of making laws and regulations.

6. Save as aforesaid, nothing in this Act shall be deemed to affect any Order made or to be made by Her Majesty in Council by virtue of the said Act of the 6th and 7th years of Her Majesty, chapter 94.*

SCHEDULE.

Section 367 of the Indian Penal Code.-Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person, in order that such person may be subjected or may be so disposed of as to be put in danger of being subjected to grievous hurt, or slavery, or to the unnatural lust of any person, or knowing it to be likely that such person will be so subjected or disposed of, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to a fine. Section 370.-Whoever imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, or disposes of

* Vol. XXXI. Page 981.

+ Vol. LVI. Page 630.

Vol. LVII. Page 54.

any person as a slave, or accepts, receives, or detains against his will any person as a slave, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to a fine.

Section 371.-Whoever habitually imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, traffics, or deals in slaves, shall be punished with transportation for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding ten years, and shall also be liable to a fine.

BRITISH ORDER IN COUNCIL, suspending the operation of the Order for the Regulation of Consular Jurisdiction in the Dominions of the Sublime Ottoman Porte of December 12, 1873,* as regards matters coming within the Jurisdiction of the Egyptian Courts, established with the concurrence of Her Majesty.-Osborne, February 5, 1876.

At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, the 5th day of February, 1876.

PRESENT: THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS Her Majesty the Queen has power and jurisdiction within that part of the Dominions of the Sublime Ottoman Porte called Egypt:

And whereas, with the concurrence of Her Majesty, Egyptian Courts have been or are about to be established as follows (namely), three Courts of First Instance at Alexandria, Cairo, and Zagazig, and a Court of Appeal at Alexandria:

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by virtue and in exercise of the powers in this behalf by the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts, 1843+ to 1875, or otherwise in her vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered as follows:

As regards all such matters and cases as arise after the time when the Egyptian Courts aforesaid begin to sit and act judicially, and as come within the jurisdiction of those Courts, the operation of the Order of Her Majesty the Queen in Council for the regulation of Consular jurisdiction in the Dominions of the Sublime Ottoman Porte, made at Windsor, the 12th day of December, 1873,* and of every Order amending the same, shall be, and the same is hereby suspended until it shall seem fit to Her Majesty the Queen, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to otherwise order. And the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, and the Right + Vol. XXXI. Page 984.

* Vol. LXIII. Page 59.

* Vol. LXVI. Page 241.

Honourable the Earl of Carnarvon, and the Most Honourable the Marquis of Salisbury, three of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, are to give the necessary directions herein as to them may respectively appertain.

C. L. PEEL.

VENEZUELAN DECREE, raising the Blockade of the Mouths of the River Orinoco.-Carácas, May 4, 1872.* (Translation.)

I, JUAN BAUTISTA GARCIA, charged with the Presidency of the United States of Venezuela, decree

ART. 1. The waters of the Orinoco, in all the extent embraced by its mouths up to Ciudad Bolivar, are open to navigation for com. merce in general, and the blockade of the coasts of the said river is suspended; the Decree of the 2nd of October, 1871,† which established it, being in consequence abrogated.

2. The Minister of War and Marine is charged with the fulfilment of this Decree, and to communicate it to whomsoever it may be

necessary.

Given at Carácas, May 4, 1872, the 9th year of the Law and the 14th of the Federation.

JUAN F. PÉREZ, Minister of War and Marine.

JUAN B. GARCIA.

DECLARATION between Italy and Roumania, for regulating, provisionally, the Commercial Relations between the Two Countries.-Signed at Rome, November 16, 1876.

LE Gouvernement de Sa Majesté le Roi d'Italie et le Gouvernement de Son Altesse le Prince de Roumanie, désirant régler provisoirement les relations entre les deux pays pendant la période nécessaire pour la négociation d'une Convention de Commerce, les Soussignés, dûment autorisés à cet effet, sont convenus des dispositions suivantes :

Les produits d'origine ou de provenance Italienne qui seront importés en Roumanie, et les produits d'origine ou de provenance Roumaine qui seront importés en Italie, seront respectivement

*Notified in the "London Gazette" of June 11, 1872.

+ Page 520.