§ SIR GEORGE JENKINSONasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to take any steps this Session to carry into effect the recommendations of the unanimous Report of the Royal Commission of 1866 on Capital Punishment respecting an alteration in the present Law of Murder, and also as to the latter portion of that Report, not included in their unanimous recommendation, and which involved the questions of—1. An appeal on matters of fact to a Court of Law in criminal cases; 2. The mode in which the Crown is advised to exercise the prerogative of mercy by the Home Secretary; and 3. The present state of the Law as to the nature and degree of insanity which is held to relieve the accused from penal responsibility in criminal cases?
MR. BRUCE,in reply, said, that towards the close of last Session the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Recorder of London introduced a Bill relating to the recommendations of the Commission of 1866 on the law of murder, with a view to its being considered by the country and the Government during the Recess. It was no secret that the Bill had been prepared by one of our most eminent jurists. The Government had considered the Bill, and hoped to introduce it in the course of the Session. It did not deal with an appeal to a court of law on matters of fact in criminal cases, nor with the mode in which the Crown was advised to exercise the prerogative of mercy by the Home Secretary; but it did to a considerable extent deal with the present state of the law as to the nature and degree of insanity which is held to relieve the accused from personal responsibility in criminal cases.