THE PREROGATIVE OF MERCY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4165, 27 July 1874, Page 3

THE PREROGATIVE OF MERCY.

(From the Melbourne Age.) The following- is a despatch received by the last mail from the Agent-General. In February last, the question of the exercise of the prerogative of mercy on the part of Colonial Governors having been raised, owing to certain proceedings in the sister Colony, the secretary of the Crown Law Department forwarded a communication to the Chief Secretary, requesting the Government to ascertain from Mr. Michie full particulars as to the mode adopted in Great Britain in reference to the commutation of sentences and the pardon of criminals. The Agent-General, having obtained tho necessary information, has forwarded it as subjoined : " The Secretary of State does not interfere with the administration of the criminal law, unless he is recommended to do so by Judges in cases tried before them, or when appeals are made to him on behalf of convicted persons on grounds which appear to him to call for investigation; and, in dealing with such applications, ho is governed by no fixed rules or forms of procedure. " In the case of a recommendation made to him by a judge, recorder, or chairman of Quarter Sessions, respecting a person convicted before a jury, or by a committing magistrate in the case of a summary conviction, he usually gives effect to the suggestions submitted to him. "Tho applications made to him by or in behalf of convicted persons are to a considerable extent mere appeals ad miscricordiam, which are not complied with. In other caaes, where the allegations as to tho fact 3 and merits appear to be of sufficient gravity, inquiries are made, either of the judge before whom the case was tried, or in such other quarters as may be necessary for ascertaining the truth of the representations, and procuring such other information as may be required ; but as a matter of practice remissions of sentence are seldom granted upon the merits of a case except with the concurrence of the presiding judge.

"If a point of ■ law is raised in any case of this kind, it is usual, in the event of any difficulty in deciding it, to take the opinion of the law officers of the Crown. It is also the practice, when it is certified by the medical officers of a prison that the life of a prisoner will he endangered by further imprisonment to remit the remainder of the sentence." The accompanying forms are those used for the grants of pardons and remissions of sentences. "A free pardon is granted only on legal grounds, or where there is ascertained innocence, or a doubt of guilt. A conditional pardon substitutes one punishment for another, such as penal servitude for death, &c. " A remission of the remainder of a sentence is the customary mode of authorising release from prison, sec. 7 and S Geo. 4, c. 2S, s. 13, as to the effect of a pardon under the royal sign manual in certain cases. See also 9 Geo. 4, c. 32, s. 3, declaring that punishment for felony after it has been endured shall have the effect of a pardon under the great seal."