§
Lords Amendment: In page 70, line 43, at the end, insert:
or
(iii) except in so far as is expressly permitted by any subsequent provisions of this Act, to make any law derogating from any prerogative right of His Majesty to grant special leave to appeal from any court.
§ 6.9 p.m.
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALI beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."
This new paragraph is to make it plain that no power is conferred by this Act upon the Indian Legislature which will enable them to derogate in any way from the right of appeal which His Majesty may by the exercise of his prerogative allow by way of special leave. Clause 208 of the Bill as it left this House provided, by Sub-section (2), that:
Nothing in this part of this Act shall be construed as derogating from any prerogative right of His Majesty to grant 2540 special leave to appeal in any criminal case.Later on we shall come to an Amendment which has been made in another place to omit that Clause. This new paragraph will, of course, cover that also. It does not deal in any way with the conditions under which leave to appeal is given in India by the courts. It deals solely with the prerogative of His Majesty to grant special leave to appeal, and the new paragraph is to make it plain that there will be no power to interfere with that prerogative right of His Majesty.
§ 6.11 p.m.
§ Mr. ATTLEEDoes this raise the point of appeal to the Privy Council which we discussed in connection with the Irish Free State? I think the object of this is to make it plain that the Indian Legislature shall not have the right to pass any legislation which will prevent an appeal to the Privy Council.
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALBy way of special leave by the exercise of the prerogative. There is a distinction between an appeal for which special leave is given by His Majesty by the exercise of the prerogative and the right of appeal which depends upon certain conditions which may be laid down in India. The Indian Legislature will have full power to deal with appeals to the Privy Council which are regulated by those conditions, but it will not have power, if this paragraph is added to the Bill, to interfere with the exercise of the prerogative right of His Majesty in Privy Council to grant special leave to appeal.
§ Mr. ATTLEEI take it that, as things stand at present with regard to the Dominions, the prerogative right has been actually done away with under the Statute of Westminster?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERALNo; it is a much bigger subject if I were to go into what happened in the case of the Dominions in regard to special leave to appeal, but it is certainly not the case that the right has been abolished. So far as the Irish Free State is concerned, I am sorry that that step has been taken but it is the only Dominion in which it has happened.