PART XI. OFFENCES, PENALTIES, AND PROCEDURE. 117. If any person holding office under the Crown in India Certain does any of the following things; that is to say, acts to be misdemeanours: sion. [10 Geo. (1) If he oppresses any of His Majesty's subjects (a) within Oppreshis jurisdiction or in the exercise of his authority: (2) If (except in case of necessity, the burden of proving III, c. 47, s. 4.] which shall be on him) he wilfully disobeys or wilfully Wilful disomits, forbears, or neglects to execute any orders instructions of the Secretary of State: obedience. or [33 Geo. III, c. 52, s. 65. (3) If he is guilty of any wilful breach of the trust and 3 & 4 duty of his office and employment: Will. IV, c.85,s.80.] Breach of (4) If, being the governor-general, or a governor, or a duty. member of the council of the governor-general or of a III, c. 52, L33 Geo. governor, or being a person employed or concerned in the s. 65. 3 & 4 collection of revenue or the administration of justice, he Will. IV, c.85,s.80.] is concerned in or has any dealings or transactions by Trading. way of traffic or trade in any part of India (b) [otherwise III, c. 52, than as a shareholder in any joint-stock company or s. 137. trading corporation]; [33 Geo. 3&4 (5) If he accepts or receives for his own use, in the discharge Receiving presents. of his office, any gift, gratuity, or reward, pecuniary or [13 Geo. otherwise [except in accordance with rules made by the III, c. 63, Ss. 23, 24, Secretary of State as to the receipt of presents], and 25. 33 Geo. except in the case of fees paid to barristers, physicians, III, c. 52, surgeons, and chaplains in the way of their respective 3 & 4 professions; he is guilty of a misdemeanour. If a person is convicted of having accepted or received any such gift, gratuity, or reward, the court may order that the gift, gratuity, or reward, or any part thereof, be restored to the person who gave it, and that the whole or any part of any ss. 62, 64. Will. IV, c.85,8.76.] Loans to native princes. [37 Geo. fine imposed on the offender be paid or given to the prosecutor or informer, as the court may direct (c). (a) The expression His Majesty's subjects' in the Act of 1770 (10 Geo. III, c. 47, s. 4) was used at a time when it was very doubtful how far the sovereignty of the British Crown extended over natives of India, at all events outside the presidency towns, and was possibly intended to be used in the narrower sense formerly attributed to the expression British subjects.' See note (c) on s. 63 above. (b) The expression in the Act of 1793 (33 Geo. III, c. 52, s. 137) is 'within any of the provinces of India or other parts.' (c) This section reproduces with as much exactness as seems practicable the several enactments noted in the margin. In many cases enactments dealing with the same offence use different language, and apply to different classes of persons. The provisions reproduced from 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 85, cannot be altered by Indian legislation. See 24 & 25 Vict. c. 67, s. 22. The words 'otherwise than as a shareholder in any joint-stock company or trading corporation,' and 'except in accordance with rules made by the Secretary of State as to the receipt of presents,' do not occur in the enactments reproduced, but represent the limitations placed in practice on the extremely general language of the enactments. Similar prohibitions of trading or lending money are contained in enactments of the Indian legislatures. See, e. g., Act XV of 1848 (trading by officers of chartered courts); Act II of 1874, s. 10 (by administrator-general); Acts VII of 1878, s. 74, and XIX of 1881, s. 73 (by forest officers); Acts V of 1861, s. 10, XXIV of 1859, s. 19; Bombay Act VII of 1867, s. 11 (by police officers); Acts XI of 1876, s. 34, and V of 1879, s. 3 (by officers of presidency banks); Act XVIII of 1881, s. 155; Bombay Act V of 1879, s. 31; Madras Regulation I of 1803, s. 40; Madras Regulation II of 1803, s. 64; Bengal Regulation II of 1793, s. 18 (by revenue officers); Bengal Regulation XXXVIII of 1793, s. 2 (loans by civil servants). As to the rules prohibiting the receipt of presents by governors of and servants of the Crown in British Colonies, see Todd, Parliamentary Government in the British Colonies, p. 153 (second edition). 118.—(1) If any British subject, without the previous consent in writing of the Secretary of State in Council or of the Governor-General in Council or of a local Government, III, c. 142, 8. 28.] by himself or another (a) lends any money or other valuable thing to any native prince in India; or (b) is concerned in lending money to, or raising or procuring money for, any such native prince, or becomes security for the repayment of any such money; or (c) lends any money or other valuable thing to any other person for the purpose of being lent to any such native prince; or (d) takes, holds, or is concerned in any bond, note, or other security granted by any such native prince for the repayment of any loan or money hereinbefore referred to, he is guilty of a misdemeanour. (2) Every bond, note, or security for money, of what kind or nature soever, taken, held, or enjoyed, either directly or indirectly, for the use and benefit of any British subject, contrary to the intent of this section, is void (a). (a) The enactment reproduced by this section was passed in 1797 to stop the scandals caused by the lending of money by European adventurers to native princes on exorbitant terms. See above, p. 71. The expression British subject,' as used in the Act of 1797, would doubtless be construed in its narrower sense, as not including natives of India. tion of [10 Geo. 119.-(1) If any person holding office under the Crown in ProsecuIndia commits any offence referred to in this Digest, or any offences in other crime or offence, the offence may, without prejudice to England any other jurisdiction, be inquired of, heard, tried, and deter- III, c. mined before His Majesty's High Court of Justice, and be dealt with as if committed in the county of Middlesex. (2) Every British subject is amenable to all courts of justice in Great Britain of competent jurisdiction to try offences committed in India for any offence committed within India and outside British India as if the offence had been committed within British India. (3) Every prosecution in respect of any offence referred to in this section must be commenced within five years after the commission of the offence, or after the arrival in the United Kingdom of the person who committed the offence, whichever is later (a). (a) This section is merely an imperfect attempt to reproduce several enactments of the eighteenth century which are still unrepealed, and which, though obsolete as respects procedure, may still be of importance with respect to jurisdiction. Section 67 of 33 Geo. III, c. 52, has been repealed as to Indian courts by Act XI of 1872, but is still unrepealed as to courts in the United Kingdom. 47, s. 4. 13 Geo. c. 70, s. 7.] The limitation under 21 Geo. III, c. 70, s. 7 (which applies only to proceedings against the governor-general or a member of his council), is five years after commission of offence or arrest in England. The limitation under 33 Geo. III, c. 52, s. 141, is six years after commission of offence. There is a three years' limitation under 33 Geo. III, c. 52, s. 162, which is repealed as to British India by Act IX of 1871. But all these limitations are now affected by the Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 61). The enactments reproduced run as follows: 'If any person whatsoever employed by or in the service of the said united Company, in any civil or military station, office, or capacity whatsoever in the East Indies, or deriving or claiming any power, authority, or jurisdiction by or from the said united Company, shall, after the passing of this Act, be guilty of oppressing any of His Majesty's subjects beyond the seas within their respective jurisdictions, or in the exercise of any such station, office, employment, power, or authority derived or claimed by, from, or under the said united Company, or shall be guilty of any other crime or offence, such oppressions, crimes, and offences shall and may be inquired of, heard, and determined in His Majesty's Court of King's Bench in England; and such punishments shall be inflicted on such offenders as are usually inflicted for offences of the like nature committed in that part of Great Britain called England; and . . . the same and all other offences committed against this Act may be alleged to be committed, and may be laid, inquired of, and tried in the county of Middlesex' (10 Geo. III, c. 47, s. 4). . . . ‘If any governor-general, president, or governor or council of any of the said Company's principal or other settlements in India, or the chief justice, or any of the judges of the said Supreme Court of Judicature to be by the said new charter established, or of any other court in any of the said united Company's settlements, or any other person or persons who now are, or heretofore have been, employed by or in the service of the said united Company in any civil or military station, office, or capacity, or who have or claim, or heretofore have had or claimed, any power or authority or jurisdiction by or from the said united Company, or any of His Majesty's subjects residing in India, shall commit any offence against this Act, or shall have been or shall be guilty of any crime, misdemeanour, or offence committed against any of His Majesty's subjects, or any of the inhabitants of India, within their respective jurisdictions, all such crimes, offences, and misdemeanours may be respectively inquired of, heard, tried, and determined in His Majesty's Court of King's Bench, and all such persons so offending and not having been before tried for the same offence in India, shall on conviction, in any such case as is not otherwise specially provided for by this Act, be liable to such fine or corporal punishment as the said court shall think fit; and, moreover, shall be liable at the discretion of the said court, to be adjudged to be incapable of serving the said united Company in any office, civil or military; and all and every such crimes, offences, and misdemeanours as aforesaid may be alleged to be committed, and may be laid, inquired of, and tried in the county of Middlesex' (13 Geo. III, c. 63, s. 39). 'No prosecution or suit shall be carried on against the said governorgeneral, or any member of the council, before any court in Great Britain (the High Court of Parliament only excepted), unless the same shall be commenced within five years after the offence committed, or within five years after his arrival in England' (21 Geo. III, c. 70, s. 7). 'All His Majesty's subjects, as well servants of the said united Company as others, shall be and are hereby declared to be amenable to all courts of justice, both in India and Great Britain, of competent jurisdiction to try offences committed in India, for all acts, injuries, wrongs, oppressions, trespasses, misdemeanours, offences, and crimes whatever, by them or any of them done or to be done or committed in any of the lands or territories of any native prince or State, or against their persons or properties, or the persons or properties of any of their subjects or people, in the same manner as if the same had been done or committed within the territories directly subject to and under the British Government in India' (33 Geo. III, c. 52, s. 67). 'All penalties, forfeitures, seizures, causes of seizure, crimes, misdemeanours, and other offences, which shall arise or be incurred or made under or shall be committed against this Act, shall be sued for, prosecuted, examined, recovered, and adjudged in any of His Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster, or in the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, or in one of the mayors' courts at Madras or Bombay respectively, in manner following; that is to say, all such pecuniary penalties, and all forfeitures of ships, vessels, merchandise and goods, shall and may be sued for, condemned, and recovered by action, bill, suit, or information, wherein no essoin, protection, wager of law, or more than one imparlance, shall be granted or allowed; and all such seizures, whether of any person or of any ships, vessels, merchandise and goods, and all causes of such seizures, shall be cognizable in such actions, suits, or prosecutions as shall bring into question or relate to the lawfulness or regularity of any such seizure; and all such offences as by this Act are not made punishable by pecuniary penalties or by any forfeiture of goods, but by fine or imprisonment, or both, or are hereby created, without providing any particular punishment, shall be prosecuted by indictment or information as misdemeanours, for breach thereof, and shall be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the court in which such prosecution shall, by virtue of this Act, be begun and carried on; and if such prosecution for a misdemeanour shall be in any of the said courts in the East Indies, and the person or persons prosecuted shall be there convicted, it shall be lawful for such court to order, as part or for the whole of the punishment, any such person or persons to be sent and conveyed to Great Britain' (33 Geo. III, c. 52, s. 140). Whenever any action, bill, suit, information, or indictment shall be brought or prosecuted in any of His Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster, for any offence against this Act, whether for a penalty, |