Many offences, such as Forgery, Offences relating to Coin and Government Stamps, Offences against the State, &c., may be committed beyond the limits of the British Territories, by persons subject to our laws, and it is necessary to provide for their punishment. It was a principle of the old Regulations to make punishable, by trial within the East India Company's territories, subjects of the Government committing crimes beyond the frontier, whether apprehended within or without the frontier. Those Regulations which were specially confined to native subjects and aliens living for six months within British territories, were repealed by Act I. of 1849, which enacts (Section 2) that "All subjects of the British Government, and also all persons in the Civil or Military Service of the said Government, while actually in such service, and for six months afterwards, and also all persons who shall have dwelt for six months within the British Territories under the Government of the East India Company, subject to the laws of the said Territories, who shall be apprehended within the said Territories, or delivered into the custody of a Magistrate within the said Territories, wherever apprehended, shall be amenable to the law for all offences committed by them within the Territory of any Foreign Prince or State; and may be bailed or committed for trial as hereafter provided, on the like evidence as would warrant their being held to bail or committed for the same offence, if it had been committed within the British Territories."

Persons liable by this law to be tried by our Courts must be "dealt with" according to the provisions of this Code.

The Act I. of 1849 applies to all subjects of Her Majesty and to persons who by reason of having taken service under the Government or dwelt within the British Territories for six months are considered as subject for a time to our laws.

It is by dwelling for six months under British law, that a person becomes bound by that law and amenable to our Courts for an offence committed beyond the frontier. A man may come to India upon a visit, to travel, to settle a particular business or the like, and the special purpose for which he

comes may keep him here for six months; but he does not thereby become a dweller within British territories, so as to be amenable to the jurisdiction of the Courts for an offence committed after his departure from India.

Our Courts acquire jurisdiction under Act I. of 1849, when the offender is apprehended in British India or is delivered into the custody of a Magistrate here; and when in custody, such offender must be "dealt with" according to the nature of his offence as such offence is defined and punished by this Code. Thus any person made amenable to the Court's jurisdiction by that Act who commits in Nepaul the offence of counterfeiting the coin of the Government of India, will be tried and punished under Chapter XII. of this Code.

Persons who commit offences in those foreign territores, where there are Courts of Justice appointed by the British Government may, it seems, be tried and punished for such offences under this Code.

A person brought by illegal violence or constraint within the British frontier and delivered to a Magistrate, having committed an offence beyond the frontier, is, it seems, liable to punishment under this Code for any offence which he may commit during his constrained residence here; and this equally whether he is a person made amenable to our laws by Act I. of 1849 or a foreigner. The unlawfulness of his detention may justify certain acts done by him for the purpose of regaining his freedom, but it will not excuse him from trial and punishment for other distinct offences; nor will it affect the jurisdiction of our Courts if he is a person made amenable by the Act.

Punishment of offences com

mitted by a servant of the Queen within a Foreign allied State.

4. Every servant of the Queen shall be subject to punishment under this Code for every act or omission contrary to the provisions thereof, of which he, whilst in such service, shall be guilty on or after the said 1st day of May, 1861, within the dominions of any Prince or State in alliance with the Queen,

by virtue of any treaty or engagement heretofore entered into with the East India Company or which may have been or may hereafter be made in the name of the Queen by any Government of India.

By the Charter Act (3 and 4 W. 4, C. 85, S. 43), the Legislative authority of the Governor-General in Council is expressly declared to extend to "all servants of the said Company within the dominions of Princes and States in alliance with the said Company." This Section of the Code is doubtless enacted by virtue of the authority given by the words just quoted, the language being adapted to the change effected by the late Statute which transferred the Government of India from the East India Company to the Queen. The words "servant of the Queen" are afterwards explained. (Section 14.) This Section makes the Penal Code applicable to offences committed by such persons within any foreign dominions which are in a state of amity and of alliance with this country. Where the alliance is by an express treaty whether of a general or limited kind there can be no question; and the relation which exists between the British Government in India and its subsidiary allies seems to constitute an alliance even in the absence of an express or formal written treaty.*

Many of the persons to whom the Code is made applicable by this Section would seem to come within the general provisions of the last preceding Section. Although the express authority of the Charter Act extends only to the power to legislate for Government servants in foreign states, the affirmative clause of that Statute, which has been quoted above, does not restrain the Legislative Council from making laws for the punishment of offences committed in foreign territories by persons not in the service of Government. The specification of a particular class (" servants of the said Company") as per

*In the Statute 3 and 4, Vict. c. 56, the words "Native Princes or States in subordinate alliance with or having subsidiary treaties with the East India Company" occur.

sons for whom the Governor-General in Council is authorized to legislate does not affect the power to legislate for persons not of that particular class. The clause in question has been considered to be either perhaps unnecessary or as meant to remove all doubts as to the power to bind servants of the Government, in the particular case specified, who might not be (as occasionally happens) either natives or subjects of the British Territories or British subjects of Her Majesty.

The following Acts of Parliament by which persons are liable to be tried in India for offences committed elsewhere may be mentioned here.

The Statutes 26, Geo. 3, C. 57, (S. 29,) and 9, Geo. 4, C. 74, (S. 127), render amenable to the Supreme Courts in India all British-born subjects and all persons whatsoever in the service of the East India Company or of the Crown for criminal offences committed "in any of the countries or parts of Asia, Africa, or America, beyond the Cape of Good Hope, to the Straits of Magellan, within the limits of the exclusive trade of the said United Company."

By the Statute 33, Geo. 3, C. 52, S. 67, it is enacted that "His Majesty's subjects, as well servants of the 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, misdemeanors, 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."

Persons made amenable by these laws to Courts in India of competent jurisdiction, will, it seems, be dealt with according to the provisions of this Code.

C

As to offences committed at sea or in places within the jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty, various Statutes provide for their trial and punishment. Such offences may be tried by any Court in India which would have had cognizance of them if committed within the limits of its ordinary local jurisdiction. But if the trial is by any Court other than a Supreme Court, the punishment to be awarded must be according to the common course of English law and not according to this Code.*

By a late Statute (23 and 24 Vic. Chap. 88,) which extends to India certain provisions for Admiralty jurisdiction in the Colonies, it is provided that if any person charged in India with the commission of any offence at sea or within the Admiralty jurisdiction shall" at any time before his trial make it appear to the Court exercising criminal jurisdiction in the place where he is so charged or brought for trial, that in case the offence charged had been committed in such place he could have been tried only in the Supreme Court of one of the three Presidencies in India, and claim to be tried by such a Supreme Court accordingly, the said Court exercising criminal jurisdiction as aforesaid shall certify the fact and claim to the Governor of such place or Chief Local Authority thereof, and such Governor or Chief Local Authority thereupon shall order and cause the person charged to be sent in custody to such one of the Presidencies as such Governor shall think fit for trial before the Supreme Court of such Presidency." The Supreme Court is then empowered to try the offender as if the offence had been committed within the limits of the ordinary jurisdiction of such Court.

By the Stat. 9, Geo. 4, Chap. 74, (an act for improving the administration of criminal justice in the East Indies) Sec. 25, it is enacted that all offences prosecuted in any of his Majesty's Courts of Admiralty shall be subject to the same punishment as if such offences had been committed upon the land. Offences committed at sea, if the offenders are tried by one of the Supreme Courts may, it seems, now be punished under this Code.

* Statutes 12 and 13 Vic. Chap. 96, 18 and 19 Vic. Chap. 91, S. 21.