CHAPTER XVIII. REPRIEVE AND PARDON. A REPRIEVE (reprendre) is the withdrawing of a sentence for an interval of time, whereby the execution of a criminal is suspended (a). Reprieves may be granted either: i. By the Crown (ex mandato regis) at its discretion, its pleasure being signified to the Court by which execution is to be awarded. ii. By the Court empowered to award execution either before or after verdict (er arbitrio judicis). Generally it must be guided by its own discretion as to whether substantial justice requires it. But in two cases the Court is bound to grant a reprieve. (i) When a woman sentenced to death is ascertained to be pregnant. To discover whether she is quick with child a jury of twelve matrons is empanelled. If so found, she is reprieved until either she is delivered or proved by the course of nature not to have been with child at all. But after she has been once delivered she cannot be reprieved on this ground a second time. (ii) When the prisoner becomes insane after judgment (b). We have already seen that the occurrence of insanity in the prisoner is a stay to proceedings at any stage. Pardon. The exercise of the prerogative of pardoning is at the absolute discretion of the Sovereign. If, either from the opinion of the Judge, or for any other reason, the Home Secretary thinks the case a fit one for the interposition of royal mercy, he recommends the same to the King, who acts. on the recommendation. (a) Archbold, 220. (b) Archbold, 221. The Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, does not in any way affect the royal prerogative to pardon an offender, but on considering any petition for mercy having reference to a conviction on indictment, or to the sentence (other than sentence of death), the Home Secretary may refer the whole case to the Court of Criminal Appeal to be heard and determined by them, or ask their opinion upon any point arising in the case (c). The Sovereign cannot pardon where private interests are principally concerned in the prosecution of offenders: " non potest rex gratiam facere cum injuria et damno aliorum" —for example, a common nuisance cannot be pardoned while it remains unredressed. But in certain cases there is statutory power to remit penalties, although they may be wholly or in part payable to some other than the Crown (d). There is another case in which the offender cannot be pardoned, namely, when he is guilty of the offence of committing a man to prison out of the realm (e). It should also be noticed that a pardon cannot be pleaded to an impeachment so as to stifle the enquiry (ƒ). But after a person has been impeached and sentenced he may then be pardoned. A pardon must be by warrant under the Great Seal, or under the sign manual (g). As a rule, it is to be construed most beneficially for the subject and against the King. A pardon may be conditional-the most frequent example of which is when a person sentenced to death is pardoned on the condition that he submit to punishment either of penal servitude or imprisonment (h). The effect of a pardon (subject to any conditions upon which it may be granted) is to absolve the person pardoned from all punishment due to the offence, and from all dis (c) 7 Edw. VII. c. 23, s. 19. (d) See 22 Vict. c. 32. (e) 31 Car. II. c. 2. (f) 12 & 13 Will. III. c. 2, s. 12. (g) 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 28, s. 13 (h) v. 5 Geo. IV. c. 84; 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3. qualifications and forfeitures which he may have incurred in consequence of the conviction (i). Ticket of leave.-In connection with the subject of pardon, it will be convenient to notice the case of those who are allowed to be at large before the expiration of their term of confinement. When any person is sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment, the King, by order in writing under the hand and seal of the Secretary of State, may grant him a licence to be at large in the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands, or in such part thereof respectively as in such licenceshall be expressed, during such portion of the term of penal servitude or imprisonment, and upon such conditions, as His Majesty thinks fit. But the licence may be revoked or altered at the King's pleasure (k). It will be forfeited in the event of a subsequent conviction for an indictable offence (1). If he fails to comply with the regulations as to notifying his residence or (if a male) reporting to the police, he may either be imprisoned for one year or the Court may forfeit his licence (m). His licence may also be revoked if he is summarily convicted of any offence (n). He may be summarily convicted under the Penal Servitude Acts (i) if on being brought before a Court of summary jurisdiction it appears that he is earning his living by dishonest means (in such a case he may be arrested without warrant by a constable, if authorised in writing by the chief police officer of the district) (0), (ii) if he breaks any conditions of his licence (p). (iii) if he fails without reasonable excuse to produce his licence to a Judge, magistrate, or constable (q). In the last two cases he is also liable to imprisonment for three months (i) Hay v. Justices of Tower Division, [1890] 24 Q. B. D. 561; 59 L. J M. C. 79. (k) 16 & 17 Vict. c. 99, ss. 9-11. (1) 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47, s. 4. (m) 34 & 35 Vict. c. 112, s. 5; 54 & 55 Vict. c. 69, s. 4. (n) 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47, s. 9. (o) 34 & 35 Vict. c. 112, s. 3. (p) Ibid. s. 4. (q) 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47, s. 5; 34 & 35 Vict. c. 112, s. 4. C.L. 29 with or without hard labour. He may be arrested without warrant by a constable if he is suspected of any offence (r) or if his licence has been revoked (s). On a subsequent conviction the offender will first suffer the punishment attached to such offence, and then finish his original term, the Judge having no power to direct otherwise (t). If the licence is revoked, the convict may be apprehended and sent back to prison (u). In the case of those sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment, the remission of a part of the term, proportioned to the length of the sentence, follows as a matter of course if the convict conduct himself well. But if the sentence is penal servitude for life, the special order of one of the Secretaries of State is required. (r) 54 & 55 Vict. c. 69, s. 2. (s) 4 & 5 Geo. V. c. 58, s. 27. (t) 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47, s. 9; 54 & 55 Vict. c. 69, s. 3; R. v. Hamilton. [1908] 1 Cr. App. R. 87; R. v. Wilson, [1909] 2 K. B. 756; 79 L. J. K. B. 4 (u) 16 & 17 Vict. c. 99, s. 11; 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3, s. 5. BOOK IV. SUMMARY CONVICTIONS. CONVICTIONS of a certain class are described as summary to distinguish them from such as follow after a regular trial on an indictment or information. The essence of summary proceedings is the absence of the intervention of a jury, the person accused being acquitted or condemned by the decision of the person who is instituted Judge. The only class of summary proceedings which is to be dealt with in this chapter is by far the most extensive and important-Summary convictions before magistrates out of Quarter Sessions (a). The original functions of justices of the peace, when not in General or Quarter Sessions, were chiefly to prevent breaches of the peace and to cause offenders to be apprehended. But their jurisdiction has been gradually extended. A great number of minor offences can be dealt with satisfactorily without the expense and delay of bringing them before the ordinary Courts. Accordingly from time to time authority has been conferred by statute (b) on the magistrates to examine into such offences and punish the offenders. It is only in virtue of legislative enactments that they act in this capacity. In some cases the offenders are punished merely by (a) We have already noticed a form of summary proceeding in the event of contempt of Court (v. p. 81). Another class comprises proceedings before the Commissioners of Inland Revenue; v. 15 & 16 Vict. c. 61. (b) The statutes regulating Courts of summary jurisdiction are: The Indictable Offences Act, 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 42), amended by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 35); the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 43), 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 49), 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 43). 1899 (62 & 63 Vict. c. 22), and the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. V. c. 58). |