HC Deb 01 October 1931 vol 257 cc525-6
40. Mr. BENSON

asked the Home Secretary whether he is prepared to consider the substitution, in cases of wrongful conviction, for the phrase free pardon of some form of words more in consonance with the facts and less liable to misconstruction?

Sir H. SAMUEL

The only power the Home Secretary has in any such connec- tion is to recommend the exercise of the Prerogative by way of free pardon. The name free pardon has the sanction of long usage, and it would be very difficult to find a better name that would cover all the classes of cases in which the Prerogative is exercised in this way. I would add that the actual document in which nowadays His Majesty signifies his pleasure is so worded as to avoid the implication that the pardon is of an offence and states that the pardon is of the conviction and its legal consequences.

Mr. HOFFMAN

Has the right hon. Gentleman got a free pardon from the right hon. Member for Carnarvon Boroughs (Mr. Lloyd George)?

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