High CourtsFull Bench(1911) 01 MAD CK 0037

In Re: W.B. Lawrence, Public Prosecutor

Madras High Court · Decided on 23 January 1911 · Citation: 9 Ind. Cas. 255

HON’BLE JUDGES
Arnold White, C.J · Sankaran Nair, J · Munro, J

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Judgment

15 paragraphs · 315 words
1.

Mr. Richards, the District. Magistrate and Justice of the Peace, Civil and Military Station, Bangalore, has held that he has no jurisdiction to take

cognizance of the case by reason of the words of proviso 4 to the Notification of 7th October 1898 No. 102683 I.A. The proviso runs: ""Provided

fourthly, that nothing in the said Code as now applied shall be deemed to apply to proceedings against European British subjects."" The proviso is,

no doubt, ambiguous, but, reading it by the light of the language used in the Notification of 1st March 1883 No. 5291, which Notification is in

terms re-produced as regards the Civil and Military Station by the Notification of 7th October 1898, we think we are warranted in placing a

construction upon the proviso, which would not have the effect of defeating what seems to us to be the intention of the Governor-General in

Council.

2.

The Notification of 1st March 1883 applied to the Civil and Military Station of Bangalore, the whole of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1882,

with the exception (among other things) of so much of the Code as applied to European British subjects.

3.

We think the intention of the Governor-General in Council in issuing the Notification of 7th October 1898 was to re-produce the effect of the

language used in the Notification of 1st March 1883 so far as regards this exception. The result is, the general provisions of the Code of Criminal

Procedure with the specified exceptions apply and Mr. Richards, as District Magistrate, has jurisdiction to take cognizance of and try the offence

in accordance with the provisions of the Code.

4.

As the record of the present case is before us, in the exercise of our powers of revision, we set aside the order of the District Magistrate, dated

17th January 1911 and direct him to take cognizance of the case.