of the punishment, and a copy of the Minute shall be forthwith sent to the Secretary of State.

(3) Provided that, if the Court thinks fit, instead of proceeding under the preceding provisions, it may direct or cause the offender to be tried in a separate criminal prosecution or proceeding, in which the offender shall be liable to be tried and punished for his offence as an offence against this Order.

(4) Nothing herein shall interfere with the power of the Court to remove or exclude a person who interrupts or obstructs the business of the Court.

70. If any person subject to the criminal jurisdiction of a Court does any act or makes any publication of such kind, and under such circumstances, that, in the opinion of the Court, great danger to public order is thereby occasioned, the Court shall have the same powers as it has in relation to apprehended breaches of the peace.

71. In the application by the Court in the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction of the provisions of the Penal Code relating to false evidence, the words "judicial proceeding in the said Code shall be deemed to include a proceeding before an Abyssinian Court, or a Court in Abyssinia of any State in amity with His Majesty.

72. If any person subject to the jurisdiction of the Court does any act in relation to proceedings in an Abyssinian Court, or before an Abyssinian judicial officer, or in a Court or before a judicial officer in Abyssinia of any State in amity with His Majesty, which, if done in the course of, or in relation to, any proceedings in the Court would have been punishable as an offence, such person shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable, on conviction, to such punishment as he would have been liable to if the offence had been committed in the course. of, or in relation to, proceedings in the Court.

Deportation of Offenders.

73.—(1) Where it is proved that there is reasonable ground to apprehend that a British subject is about to commit a breach of the public peace, or that the acts or conduct of a British subject are or is likely to produce or excite a breach of the public peace, the Court may, if it thinks fit (for reasons recorded in the Minutes), cause him to be brought before it and require him to give security, to the satisfaction of the Court, to keep the peace, or for his future good behaviour, as the case may require.

(2) Where a British subject is convicted of a crime or offence before the Court, or before a Court in the sentence of which one of His Majesty's Consular officers concurs, the Court for the district in which he is may, if it thinks fit, require him to give security to the satisfaction of the Court for his future good behaviour, and for that purpose may (if need be) cause him to be brought before the Court.

(3) In either of these cases, if the person required to give security fails to do so, the Court may order that he be deported from Abyssinia to such place as the Court directs.

(4) The place shall be a place in some part (if any) of His Majesty's dominions to which the person belongs, or the Government of which consents to the reception of persons deported under this Order.

(5) A Provincial Court shall report to the Consul-General any order of deportation made by it, and the grounds thereof, before the order is executed. The Consul-General may reverse the order, or may confirm it with or without variation, and in case of confirmation shall direct it to be carried into effect.

(6) The person to be deported shall be detained in custody until a fit opportunity for his deportation occurs.

(7) He shall, as soon as is practicable, and in the case of a person convicted, either after execution of the sentence or while it is in course of execution, be embarked in custody, under the warrant of the Consul-General, on board one of His Majesty's ships of war, or, if there is no such ship available, then on board any British or other fit vessel bound to the place of deportation.

(8) The warrant shall be sufficient authority to the commander or master of the vessel to receive and detain the person therein named, and to carry him to and deliver him up at the place named, according to the warrant.

(9) Where a warrant of deportation provides for further deportation from the place to which the person is first deported to some other place, the person shall, on his arrival at such first-mentioned place, be delivered with the warrant into the custody of the Chief Magistrate or officer of police at that place, who shall detain him, and shall forthwith report the case to the Governor or person administering the Government at that place, who shall either cause him to be further deported, with and in accordance with the warrant, and in the meantime

to be detained in custody for any necessary period not exceeding three months, or, if the circumstances of the case appear to render his discharge expedient, shall discharge him from custody.

(10) The Court may order the person to be deported to pay all or any part of the expenses of his deportation. Subject thereto, the expenses of deportation shall be defrayed in such manner as the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Treasury, may direct.

(11) The Consul-General shall forthwith report to the Secretary of State any order of deportation made or confirmed by him, and the grounds thereof.

(12) If any person deported under this Order returns to Abyssinia without permission in writing of the Secretary of State (which permission the Secretary of State may give), he shall be deemed guilty of an offence against this Order, and shall, for every such offence, be liable to imprisonment for not more than one month, with or without hard labour, and with or without a fine of not more than £10, or to a fine of not more than £20 alone; and he shall also be liable to be forthwith again deported, and shall not be again entitled to registration under this Order.

Appeal and Reserved Case.

74. Where a person is convicted of any offence before any Court

(a) If he considers the conviction erroneous in law, then, on his application, within the prescribed time (unless it appears merely frivolous, when it may be refused); or

(b) If the Court thinks fit to reserve for consideration of the Court of the Consul-General any question of law arising on the trial;

the Court shall state a case, setting out the facts and the grounds of the conviction, and the question of law, and send or deliver it to the Court of the Consul-General.

75.-(1) Where a case is stated under the last preceding Article, the Court, before whom the trial was had, shall, as it thinks fit, either postpone judgment on the conviction, or respite execution of the judgment, and either commit the person convicted to prison, or take security for him to appear and receive judgment, or to deliver himself for execution of the judgment (as the case may require) at an appointed time and place.

(2) The Court of the Consul-General, sitting without Assessors, shall hear and determine the matter, and thereupon shall reverse, affirm, or amend the judgment given, or set it aside, and order an entry to be made in the Minutes that, in the judgment of the Court of the Consul-General, the person ought not to have been convicted, or order judgment to be given at a subsequent sitting of the Provincial Court, or order a new trial, or make such other order as the Court of the ConsulGeneral thinks just, and shall also give all necessary and proper consequential directions.

(3) The judgment of the Court of the Consul-General shall be delivered in open Court, after the public hearing of any argument offered on behalf of the prosecutor or of the person convicted.

(4) Before delivering judgment, the Court of the ConsulGeneral may, if necessary, cause the case to be amended by the Provincial Court.

(5) The Court of the Consul-General shall not annul a conviction or sentence, or vary a sentence, or order a new trial, on the ground

(a) Of any objection which, if stated during the trial, might, in the opinion of the Court of the Consul-General, have been properly met by amendment at the trial; or

(b) of any error in the summoning of Assessors; or

(c) Of any person having served as Assessor who was not qualified; or

(d) Of any objection to any person as Assessor which might have been raised before or at the trial; or

(e) Of any informality in the swearing of any witness; or (f) Of any error or omission in the charge, or any informality in procedure which, in the opinion of the Court of the ConsulGeneral, did not affect the substance of the case or subject the convicted person to any undue prejudice.

76. There shall be no appeal in a criminal case to His Majesty the King in Council from a decision of the Court of the ConsulGeneral, except by special leave of His Majesty in Council.

General Provisions.

77. It shall be lawful for a Court, from time to time, by order or warrant under the seal of the Court, to appoint any building or place specified in such order or warrant to be a prison for any purpose of this Order, either generally or in relation to a particular case, or for a limited time, and to

appoint such persons as the Court thinks fit to be gaolers, keepers, or officers of any such prison.

78. The Fugitive Offenders Act, 1881*, shall apply to Abyssinia as if Abyssinia were a British possession, subject to the conditions, exceptions, and qualifications following:

(1) The said Act shall apply only in the case of British subjects.

(2) The Consul-General is, for the purposes of the said Act, substituted for the Governor of a British possession, and for a superior Court, or a Judge thereof, in a British possession, and for a Magistrate or Justice of the Peace in a British possession. (3) So much of the 4th and 5th sections of the said Act as relates to the sending a report of the issue of a warrant, together with the information, or a copy thereof, or to the sending of a certificate of committal and report of a case, or to the information to be given by a Magistrate to a fugitive, shall be excepted.

(4) So much of the 6th section of the said Act as relates to habeas corpus, and as requires the expiration of fifteen days before issue of a warrant, shall be excepted.

(5) The Consul-General shall not be bound to return a fugitive offender to a British possession unless satisfied that the proceedings to obtain his return are taken with the consent of the Governor of that possession.

79. The Colonial Prisoners Removal Act, 1884†, shall apply to Abyssinia as if Abyssinia were a British possession, and part of His Majesty's dominions, subject as follows:

The Consul-General shall be substituted for the Governor of a British possession.

PART IV. CIVIL MATTERS.

80. Subject to the provisions of this Order, the civil jurisdiction of every Court acting under this Order shall, as far as circumstances admit, be exercised on the principles of and in conformity with the law for the time being in force in British India.

Provided that in all matters relating to marriage, inheritance, or other questions involving religious law or custom, the Court shall, in the case of persons belonging to non-Christian communities, recognize and apply the religious law or custom of the person concerned.

See Vol. 15, page 635.

† See Vol. 17, page 506.