MR. GORSTasked Mr. Attorney General, Whether the Laws of England are generally applied at Gibraltar, and 986 whether the Charter of 1830 provides that the Courts shall administer the Law as nearly as may be according to the practice of Westminster Hall; whether it is under the provisions of the general Law, as thus defined, or under some special statute or ordinance, that Zebehr Pasha is kept as a prisoner at Gibraltar without being brought to trial; whether the Attorney General of Gibraltar or the Law Officers of the Crown in England have been consulted as to the lawfulness of the detention of Zebehr Pasha by Her Majesty's Government?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)I may answer the first paragraph of my hon. and learned Friend's Question substantially in the affirmative; but the application of the law of England in Gibraltar is now regulated by the Order of Council dated February 2, 1884, which declares that, except in matters provided for by local legislation, the law of England, as it existed in England on December 31, 1883, should be enforced in Gibraltar so far as it might be applicable to the circumstances thereof. But by virtue of the legislative power vested in the Governor of Gibraltar a special Ordinance has been enacted authorizing the detention in custody of Zebehr at Gibraltar, and by virtue of this Ordinance he is now detained in a house provided for that purpose. I must ask my hon. and learned Friend to relieve me from answering the last paragraph of the Question. It is both very unusual and inexpedient to dissect the responsibility borne by the different Departments of the Government in respect to any particular course of action which has been pursued.
MR. GORSTasked if the Attorney General had any objection to lay a copy of the Ordinance in question on the Table of the House?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)said, he must refer the hon. and learned Member to some other Department for an answer to that Question.