§ 26. Mr. Baldwinasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on the proposed changes in the penal code and criminal procedure code in the Seychelles; and why the Court of Appeal for the Seychelles is being transferred from Mauritius to East Africa.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsThe present penal code is a mixture of French, English and Indian penal law and the criminal code is unsatisfactory in many ways. The object of the drafts which have been published and are now being studied by the Seychelles Government in consultation with local lawyers, is to replace these codes by new ones based on the East African codes, which are themselves codifications of English law. The proposal that appeals in criminal matters should be transferred to the East African Court of Appeal is connected with the proposed revision of the Criminal Procedure Code. Legislation would be required in Seychelles to enable this transfer to be effected. No such legislation has as yet been passed.
§ Mr. BaldwinIs it not a fact that when the Seychelles were taken from the French by the British they were then administered under French law which governs Mauritius as well, and was not an undertaking given at the time that they should remain under that law?
§ Mr. GriffithsAs I have said, I understand that the present legal code is a mixture from several sources. This is a proposal which has been put forward for consideration and has been discussed, but no final decision has yet been taken.