THE BERNASCONI CASE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16808, 18 March 1915, Page 6

THE BERNASCONI CASE.

TRIAL BY JURY REFUSED

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. MELBOURNE, March 17.

The High Court of Australia dismissed the appeal in the Bemasconi case. Judge Murray stated a special case, setting forth several grounds of appeal. The main point was whether Bemasconi had a right to claim trial by jury. The Chief Justice said that the section- in the Constitution providing for trial by jury related' only to offences created by Parliament by statutes passed in execution of its functions and described as Laws of the Commonwealth. The request for a jury, therefore, had been rightly refused.

Mr Justice Isaacs and Mr Justice Rich concurred.

(Bemasconi was a planter at Port Moresby, who was sentenced to a term of imprisonment by Judge Murray for hanging a native boy from the rafters of a hut.