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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0588 and id is 1 raw text is: 2 CAR. & X. 100. REX V. SAWYER 41
Tindal, C. J., Pollock, C. B., Parke, B., Alderson, B., Patteson, J., Williams, J.,
Coltman, J., Maule, J., Rolfe, B., Wightman, J., and Erie, J., held the conviction to
be wrong.
Lord Denman, C. J., and Platt, B., held the conviction right.
Lord Denman's opinion was as follows :- I thought the conviction right. It
appeared to me that the possession of the Brazilian vessel by the British officers was
a lawful possession, under a seizure made by them of the said ship while employed by
Brazilian subjects in the slave trade ; and I thought the vessel so in possession of
British officers, under the general authority from the Crown, was a British vessel,
for the purpose of founding the jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty ; and, of course,
since the late act (the stat. 7 & 8 Vict. c. 2), of the court of oyer and terminer and gaol
delivery at Exeter, to try crimes on board such vessel.
Baron Platt's opinion was as follows :- The 22nd [100] section of the stat. 4 & 5
Will. 4, c. 36, gave to the justices of oyer and terminer and general gaol delivery at
the Central Criminal Court, and a subsequent statute (a) to the Judges before whom
the assizes at Exeter were holden, jurisdiction to try the prisoners, if the alleged
offence had been committed within the jurisdiction of the Lord High Admiral. The
question, therefore, was, whether the act which caused the death of Mr. Palmer was
committed within that jurisdiction. Upon this subject I have always thought,
and still think, that, as Captain Usher commanded her Majesty's ship of war 'The
Wasp,' and was stationed with that vessel off the coast of Africa for the prevention
of the slave trade, the compact entered into between the British and Brazilian govern-
ments by the then subsisting Brazilian treaty justified him in directing, and Lieut.
Stupart in effecting under such direction of his superior officer, tie capture of the
'Felicidade' and of 'The Echo,' and their detention during such time as might be
necessary for the purpose of submitting the circumstances attending their capture
to the judgment of the Mixed Court; and that, during such detentionof the' Felicidade,'
she was in the lawful possession and dominion of her Majesty, and her deck as much
within her Majesty's Admiralty jurisdiction as the deck of 'The Wasp '.
The prisoners were discharged.
[101] Old Bailey April Session, 1815, before Lord Ellenborough, C. J.,
Mr. Justice Chambre, and Mr. Baron Wood.
April 7th, 1815.
REX v. WILLIAM SAWYER.
(Under the stat. 33 Hen. 8, c. 23, a British subject was triable in this country for the
murder of another British subject, committed on land within the territory of
a foreign independent kingdom. In such a case, the indictment sufficiently
shewed the parties to be British subjects, by stating, in the usual manner, that
the deceased was in the peace of the king, and concluding against the peace of
the king. Such an indictment need not conclude contr formam statuti.)
[Subsequent proceedings with annotations, Russ. & Ry. 294.]
Murder.-The prisoner was indicted for the murder of Harriet Gaskett, at Lisbon,
in the kingdom of Portugal, on the 27th day of April, 1814, and was tried under a
special commission issued under the stat. 33 Hen. 8, c. 23 (b). The indictment was
as follows :- London, to wit. The jurors for our Lord the King upon their oath
present, that William Sawyer, late of London, gentleman, not having the fear of God
before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, hereto-
fore, to wit, on the 27th day of April, 54 Geo. 3, with force and arms, at Lisbon, in the
kingdom of Portugal, in parts beyond the sea without England, in and upon one
Harriet Gaskett, in the peace of God and our said Lord the King then and there being,
feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, did make an assault, and that
the said William Sawyer a certain pistol of the value of five shillings then and there
loaded with gunpowder and a leaden bullet, which pistol he the said William Sawyer
then and there had and held in his right hand to, at, and against the said Harriet
Gaskett, did then and there, to wit, at Lisbon aforesaid, in parts beyond the sea
without England, feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, shoot off and
discharge, by which the said William Sawyer gave to the said Harriet Gaskett one
(a) The stat. 7 & 8 Vict. c. 2. As to the laying of the venue under this statute,
see the case of Regina v. Jones, post, p. 165.
(b) That stat. was repealed by the stat, 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, and other provisions sub.
stituted for it by sect. 7 of that Act,
N. P. vi.-2*](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0588&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)