Exercise of jurisdiction in foreign country. Exercise of jurisdiction over British subjects in countries without regu lar governments. Validity of acts done in 53-54 VICTORIA. CHAP. 37. An Act to consolidate the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts. [4th August, 1890.] WHEREAS Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent 1. It is and shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen to hold, exercise and enjoy any jurisdiction which Her Majesty now has or may, at any time hereafter, have within a foreign country in the same and as ample a manner as if Her Majesty had acquired that jurisdiction by the cession or conquest of territory. 2. Where a foreign country is not subject to any government from whom Her Majesty the Queen might obtain jurisdiction in the manner recited by this Act, Her Majesty shall, by virtue of this Act, have jurisdiction over Her Majesty's subjects for the time being resident in or resorting to that country, and that jurisdiction shall be jurisdiction of Her Majesty in a foreign country within the meaning of the other provisions of this Act. 3. Every act and thing done in pursuance of any jurisdiction of Her Majesty in a foreign country shall be as valid as if jurisdiction. it had been done according to the local law then in force in pursuance of existence or that country. Evidence as to 4. If in any proceeding, civil or criminal, in a court in Her Majesty's dominions or held under the authority of Her Majesty, any question arises as to the existence or extent of any jurisdiction of Her Majesty in a foreign country, a Secretary extent of jurisdiction in foreign country. Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890. of State shall, on the application of the court, send to the court within a reasonable time his decision on the question, and his decision shall, for the purposes of the proceeding, be final. (2.) The court shall send to the Secretary of State, in a document under the seal of the court or signed by a judge of the court, questions framed so as properly to raise the question; and sufficient answers to those questions shall be returned by the Secretary of State to the court, and those answers shall, on production thereof, be conclusive evidence of the matters therein contained. extend enact 5.-(1.) It shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen in Power to Council, if She thinks fit, by Order to direct that all or any ments in First of the enactments described in the First Schedule to this Act, Schedule. or any enactments for the time being in force amending or substituted for the same, shall extend, with or without any exceptions, adaptations or modifications in the Order mentioned, to any foreign country in which for the time being Her Majesty has jurisdiction. (2.) Thereupon those enactments shall, to the extent of that jurisdiction, operate as if that country were a British possession, and as if Her Majesty in Council were the Legislature of that possession. persons trial to a British pos 6.—(1.) Where a person is charged with an offence cog- Power to send nizable by a British court in a foreign country, any person charged with having authority derived from Her Majesty in that behalf offences for may, by warrant, cause the person so charged to be sent for trial to any British possession for the time being appointed in session. that behalf by Order in Council, and upon the arrival of the person so charged in that British possession, such criminal court of that possession as is authorized in that behalf by Order in Council or, if no court is so authorized, the supreme criminal court of that possession, may cause him to be kept in safe and proper custody, and so soon as conveniently may be may inquire of, try and determine the offence, and on conviction punish the offender according to the laws in force in that behalf within that possession in the same manner as if the offence had been committed within the jurisdiction of that criminal court. Provided that (a.) A person so charged may, before being so sent for trial, tender for examination to a British court in the foreign country where the offence is alleged to have been committed any competent witness whose evidence he deems material for his defence and whom he alleges of persons convicted. Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890. himself unable to produce at the trial in the British possession: (b.) In such case the British court in the foreign country shall proceed in the examination and cross-examination of the witness as though he had been tendered at a trial before that court, and shall cause the evidence so taken to be reduced into writing, and shall transmit, to the criminal court of the British possession by which the person charged is to be tried, a copy of the evidence certified as correct under the seal of the court before which the evidence was taken, or the signature. of a judge of that court : (.) Thereupon the court of the British possession before which the trial takes place shall allow so much of the evidence so taken as would have been admissible according to the law and practice of that court, had the witness been produced and examined at the trial, to be read and received as legal evidence at the trial: (.) The court of the British possession shall admit and give effect to the law by which the alleged offender would have been tried by the British court in the foreign country in which his offence is alleged to have been committed, so far as that law relates to the criminality of the act alleged to have been committed, or the nature or degree of the offence, or the punishment thereof, if the law differs in those respects from the law in force in that British possession. (2.) Nothing in this section shall alter or repeal any law, statute or usage by virtue of which any offence committed out of Her Majesty's dominions may, irrespectively of this Act, be inquired of, tried, determined and punished within Her Majesty's dominions, or any part thereof. Provision as to 7. Where an offender convicted before a British court in a place of punishment foreign country has been sentenced by that court to suffer death, penal servitude, imprisonment or any other punishment, the sentence shall be carried into effect in such place as may be directed by Order in Council or be determined in accordance with directions given by Order in Council, and the conviction and sentence shall be of the same force in the place in which the sentence is so carried into effect as if the conviction had been made and the sentence passed by a competent court in that place. Validity of S. Where, by Order in Council made in pursuance of this under Order Act, any British court in a foreign country is authorized to order the removal or deportation of any person from that country, that removal or deportation, and any detention for in Council. Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890. the purposes thereof, according to the provisions of the Order in Council, shall be as lawful as if the order of the court were to have effect wholly within that country. diction to in cases 9. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen in Council, Power to by Order, to assign to or confer on any court in any British assign jurispossession, or held under the authority of Her Majesty, any British Courts jurisdiction, civil or criminal, original or appellate, which may within foreign lawfully, by Order in Council, be assigned to or conferred on jurisdiction any British court in any foreign country, and to make such Act. provisions and regulations as to Her Majesty in Council seem meet respecting the exercise of the jurisdiction so assigned or conferred, and respecting the enforcement and execution of the judgments, decrees, orders and sentences of any such court, and respecting appeals therefrom. 10. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen in Council Power to to revoke or vary any Order in Council made in pursuance of amend Orders this Act. in Council. and effect of 11. Every Order in Council made in pursuance of this Act Laying before shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament forthwith after Parliament it is made, if the Parliament be then in session, and if not, Orders in forthwith after the commencement of the then next session of Parliament, and shall have effect as if it were enacted in this Act. Council. Orders in nancy. 12.-(1.) If any Order in Council made in pursuance of this In what cases Act as respects any foreign country is in any respect repugnant Council void to the provisions of any Act of Parliament extending to for repugHer Majesty's subjects in that country, or repugnant to any order or regulation made under the authority of any such Act of Parliament, or having in that country the force and effect of any such Act, it shall be read subject to that Act, order or regulation, and shall, to the extent of such repugnancy, but not otherwise, be void. (2.) An Order in Council made in pursuance of this Act shall not be, or be deemed to have been, void on the ground of repugnancy to the law of England unless it is repugnant to The provisions of some such Act of Parliament, order or regulation as aforesaid. 13.—(1.) An action, suit, prosecution, or proceeding against Provisions for any person for any act done in pursuance or execution or in- protection of tended execution of this Act, or of any enactment repealed by under Foreign persons acting this Act, or of any Order in Council made under this Act, or Jurisdiction of any such jurisdiction of Her Majesty as is mentioned in this Acts. Act, or in respect of any alleged neglect or default in the ex Jurisdiction over ships in certain Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890. ecution of this Act, or of any such enactment, Order in (a.) In any court within Her Majesty's dominions, unless it (2.) In any such action, suit or proceeding, tender of amends before the same was commenced may be pleaded in lieu of or in addition to any other plea. If the action, suit, or proceeding was commenced after such tender, or is proceeded with after payment into court of any money in satisfaction of the plaintiff's claim, and the plaintiff does not recover more than the sum tendered or paid, he shall not recover any costs incurred after such tender or payment, and the defendant shall be entitled to costs, to be taxed as between solicitor and client, as from the time of such tender or payment; but this provision shall not affect costs on any injunction in the action, suit or proceeding. 14. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen in Council to make any law that may seem meet for the government of Eastern seas. Her Majesty's subjects being in any vessel at a distance of not more than one hundred miles from the coast of China or of Japan, as fully and effectually as any such law might be made by Her Majesty in Council for the government of Her Majesty's subjects being in China or in Japan. Provision as to subjects of Indiau princes. Definitions. 15. Where any Order in Council made in pursuance of this Act extends to persons enjoying Her Majesty's protection, that expression shall include all subjects of the several princes and states in India. 16. In this Act The expression "foreign country" means any country or |