§ 3.31 p.m.
§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [THE EARL OF DROGHEDA IN THE CHAIR]
§ Clause 1:
§ Grave breaches of scheduled conventions
§ 1.—(1) If any person, whatever his nationality, commits, whether in or outside the United Kingdom, any such grave breach of any of the scheduled conventions as is referred to in the following articles respectively of those conventions, that is to say—
- (a) article 50 of the convention set out in the First Schedule to this Act;
- (b) article 51 of the convention set out in the Second Schedule to this Act;
- (c) article 130 of the convention set out in the Third Schedule to this Act; or
- (d) article 147 of the convention set out in the Fourth Schedule to this Act.
- (i) in the case of such a grave breach as aforesaid involving the wilful killing of a person protected by the convention in question, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life;
- (ii) in the case of any other such grave breach as aforesaid, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.
§
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT KILMUIR) moved, in subsection (1), to leave out from "If" down to and including "Kingdom", and to insert:
Any person, whatever his nationality, who, whether in or outside the United Kingdom, commits, or aids, abets or procures the commission by any other person of.
§
The noble and learned Viscount said: The Amendment which I am now proposing has as its object to make certain that not only persons who actually
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commit a grave breach but also persons who aid, abet or procure them to do so are guilty of an offence under Clause 1. It has been suggested that there is some doubt whether, for example, without this Amendment a person who procures another person to commit a grave breach abroad would be within the clause, because it is possible, as I believe the noble Lord, Lord Milner of Leeds, would agree, to take the view that the general rules about accessories and abettors are limited to offences within the jurisdiction; and in several instances Statutes making actions abroad criminal in the United Kingdom have included an express provision on the lines of the Amendment. The Conventions require States to provide for the punishment:
of persons committing or ordering to be committed
grave breaches. It is thought that the words I stress: "or ordering to be committed" apply only to cases where the grave breach ordered has in fact been committed. This case is covered by the word "procured" and it is not necessary or appropriate to go further and include unsuccessful incitement to commit a grave breach. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 1, line 9, leave out from beginning to ("any") in line 10 and insert the said new words.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF (HILLS-BOROUGHThe Opposition have considered this point and we believe it is fundamental. We agree with the Amendment moved by the noble and learned Viscount.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORI am grateful to the noble Viscount.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORThis Amendment is consequential. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 2, line 3, leave out ("he").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 1 as amended, agreed to.
§ Clauses 2 to 6 agreed to.
§ Clause 7 [Interpretation]:
§
THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved, to add to in subsection (1):
' court ' does not include a court-martial;".
§ The noble and learned Viscount said: This Amendment is to make it clear that the references in the Bill to "courts" do not include courts-martial, whether Service courts-martial, under the Army Act, 1955, or corresponding Acts for other Services; or what I may call prisoner-of-war courts-martial, under a Royal Warrant. There is an exactly similar definition in Section 80 (1) of the Criminal Justice Act, 1948. Where the Conventions require that provisions similar to those made by the Bill in respect of civilian courts should be made in respect of courts-martial, any necessary provision will be made under the existing powers for regulating courts-martial or in the Royal Warrant relating to prisoner-of-war courts-martial. That is a perfectly usual procedure with which those of us who have had to deal with courts-martial are very familiar; and I hope that your Lordships will agree that it would be cumbersome to deal with this matter in the Bill, especially as regards Clause 3, which includes technical provisions for legal representation based on the procedure in civilian courts, which could not be applied to courts-martial without modification. I have satisfied myself that it will not mean any derogation in the assistance given to people charged by courts-martial. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 8, line 34, at end insert—
("'court ' does not include a court-martial;").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGHWe are quite agreeable to the making of this Amendment. I rather gathered that if any of these particular conventions fell to be dealt with in a particular place where it had been essential to establish martial law over the whole territory, there would in fact be all necessary adjustments to meet the point in relation to courts-martial. We feel, therefore, that it is right for this provision to go in.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORI entirely agree that that is so.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 7, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining clauses and Schedules agreed to.
§ House resumed.