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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0541 and id is 1 raw text is: 1508 REGINA V. ADOLPH BJORNSEN LE. & CA. 545.
immoral and indecent. It appears to md that that evidence of the man's character
comes within the scope of the principle I have been referring to, and ought to have
been admitted, if any evidence of the prisoner's bad character is to be admitted at
all. Had I tried the case, although I certainly should have endeavoured to persuade the
counsel for the prosecution not to attempt that which was unusual, yet in administering
the law according to the custom of England and the usage and practice which have.
prevailed, if he had insisted on offering the evidence, I should have admitted it, and
have fallen into the same mistake which, as appears from the judgment of the
majority of the Court, the learned Judge who had to deal with the case has done.
Cockburn C. J.-I am desired by my Brother Byles to say that, though he takes
no part in the judgment, not having heard the whole of the argument, he entirely
concurs in the view of the majority of the Judges on both points.
The other learned Judges concurred in the judgment delivered by the Lord Chief
Justice of England.
Conviction quashed.
[545] 1865.
REGINA V. ADOLPH BJORNSEN.
(Upon the trial of a foreigner for a homicide committed on board a foreign-built ship
on the high seas, it was proved that the ship was manned by foreigners, but had
been registered as a British ship under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and,
at the time the offence was committed, was sailing under the British flag, and
that the owner resided in London; but it was admitted that he was not a
natural-born British subject. Under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, a ship
can only be registered as a British ship upon the production of a declaration
that the owner ia a natural-born British subject or that he has received letters
of denization or been naturalized ; and the making a false declaration is a mis-
demeanor. Held : 1st. That the register of the ship, coupled with the facts
that she was sailing under the British flag and that the owner was resident in
England, amounted to prima facie evidence that the ship was British; but,
2nd. That such evidence was rebutted by the admission that the owner was.
not a natural-born British subject; and, 3rd. That the Court could not presume,
from the fact of the vessel having been registered, that the owner had been
naturalized, or had received letters of denization.)
[S. C. 6 New Rep. 179; 34L. J. M. C. 180; 12L. T. 473; 29J. P. 373;
11 Jur. N. S. 589; 13 W. R. 664; 10 Cox C. C. 74.]
The following case was stated by Channell B.
The prisoner, Adolph Bjornsen, was indicted before me, at the last Winter Corn-
mission for the county of Southampton, for the wilful murder on the high seas of one
Heinrich Leonard Paul Scherck.
The jury acquitted the prisoner of murder.
They found him guilty of manslaughter. This verdict is to be taken for the
purposes of the present case to be correct, subject to the points of law hereinafter
stated respecting the jurisdiction of the Court to try the prisoner for the offence.
The offence was committed on board the barque Gustav Adolph on the 21st of
June last on the high seas, at a point about five days' sail from Pernambuco, and
about 200 miles from the nearest land. In opening the case to the jury the counsel
for the prosecution stated that, since the prosecution had been instituted, doubts
had arisen as to whether the Gustav Adolph was a British ship so as to give juris-
diction to the Court to try the prisoner for an offence committed on board the barque
on the high seas, and that [546] he should place at the disposal of the prisoner's
counsel, if desired by him, all the documents in the possession of the prosecution for
clearing up those doubts. The facts relating to the commission of the offence on
board the ship having been proved, it was further proved that the ship in question
was built at Kiel, in the duchy of Holstein, in the Spring of the year 1864 ; that she
sailed from Kiel to London; and thence on the voyage in the course of which the
offence was committed. All the officers and crew were foreigners, the prisoner being
second mate and the deceased the master. The ship was sailing under the English
flag on the 21st of June, 1864. The crew were told before sailing that Mr. Rehder
was sole owner. He was not a born Englishman.
A certified copy of the register of the Gustav Adolph was put in by the counsel
for the prosecution. It was in the following form :-](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0541&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)