§ 3.37 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT SIMON rose to ask His Majesty's Government whether they will state, for the information of Parliament and the public, in order to put the matter beyond all doubt, whether it is not correct to say that judges in British Colonies, in discharging their judicial duties and in reaching conclusions of fact on the issues before them, are just as independent of the Executive as is the case with judges in this country. The noble and learned Viscount said: My Lords, I rise to move the unstarred Question which is in my name on the Order Paper. Perhaps I may in three or four sentences uncontroversially state the circumstances which lead me to put this Question to the noble and learned Viscount the Lord Chancellor. I think it is an important one, and I hope to receive an answer which will be of general value.
§ Proceedings have recently been taken before the Chief Justice of the Colony of the Seychelles by certain citizens there to recover from the Crown substantial sums which they alleged had been extracted from them as arrears of income tax by means of improper pressure put upon them by the acting Attorney-General of the Colony. These proceedings succeeded, and the plaintiffs recovered what they had paid, as in the opinion of the Chief Justice, after hearing the evidence, it was established by the evidence that this official had employed methods and menaces which amounted to duress. This was the issue of fact on which the litigation turned, and though notice of appeal was filed it has been withdrawn, and the Chief Justice's conclusion therefore stands.
20§ This matter has been the subject of debate in another place and subsequently of a Question in this House on matters of detail which are not immediately concerned with my present Question. But since then newspaper comments have appeared in certain journals which raise the general question of the relation of Colonial judges to the local Executive and suggest that in the Colonies a judge is less independent of the Executive than he is in this country. I believe this view to be wrong, and communications which I have received go to show that in other Colonies also judges would appreciate an assurance, which it is the object of my Question to obtain, from the highest authority. I therefore beg to ask the Lord Chancellor whether he will state, for the information of Parliament and the public, in order to put the matter beyond all doubt, whether it is not correct to say that judges in British Colonies, in discharging their judicial duties and in reaching conclusions of fact on the issues before them, are just as independent of the Executive as is the case with judges in this country.
§ 3.41 p.m.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble and learned Viscount for raising this Question for, as he says, it is most desirable to remove any possible misapprehension which may exist. I can give him an answer without any qualification, and I hope your Lordships will consider the answer none the less good because it is very short. The answer is, "Yes."