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March 20, 1939
WEST AFRICAN COURT OF APPEAL
SIERRA LEONE
CORAM
The following joint judgment was delivered :-
KINGDON, C.J., NIGERIA, PETRIDES, C.]., GOLD COAST, AND WEBB, C.J., SIERRA LEONE.
The appellant was tried and convicted by the Circuit Court sitting at Port Loko of the offence of larceny by a Public Servant committed by him at Port Loko. He appeals against his conviction on the ground that, Port Loko being part of the Colony of Sierra Leone, the Supreme Court alone and not the Circuit Court has jurisdiction to try such an offence committed there.
Bacca Lokkoh, a portion of what is now the administrative District of Port Loko, including the town of Port Loko, was ceded to the Crown in 1825, and it is not disputed that this portion of the territory is Colony, and does not form part of the territories over which a Protectorate was declared in 1896.
In the Colony indictable offences are normally tried by the Supreme Court of the Colony of Sierra Leone (Ord. 39/32 Sec. 2) with a jury; in the Protectorate criminal cases are tried by the Circuit Court with the assistance of Assessors but the decision is vested exclusively in the judge (Protectorate Courts jurisdiction Ordinance, 1932, Sec. 43). Although the town of Port Loko technically forms part of the Colony the learned trial judge held that it is included for administrative and judicial purposes in the Protectorate by virtue of the Protectorate Ordinance, 193:~, entitle(1 .. An Ordinance to Consolidate and Amend the Law Dealing with the Mode of Exercising His Majesty's jurisdiction in the Protectorate." Sec. 1 gives the short title of the Ordinance and provides that it .. shall apply to the Protectorate as hereinafter defined", and the definition contained in Sec. 2 (2) of the term Protectorate .. for the purposes of this Ordinance and of any other Ordinance applying to the Protectorate" plainly includes the entire Administrative District of Port Loko.
But the argument for the appellant is that this Ordinance, in so far as it purports to treat a portion. of the Colony as Protectorate,.is ultra vires and should· be declared to be void. Power to legislate for the Protectorate is given by the Sierra Leone Protectorate Order in Council, 1924, which recites the power;; conferred upon His Majesty by the Foreign jurisdiction Act, 1890, and provides by Art. 2, that .. this order shall appeal. to the territories therein specified" not being portions of the Colony of . Sierra Leone" . Art. 6 refers to the Legislative Council constituted by the Sierra Leone (Legislati
AI Generated Summary
Chief Justices Kingdon (Nigeria), Petrides (Gold Coast), and Webb (Sierra Leone) delivered a joint judgment dismissing an appeal by a public servant convicted of larceny at Port Loko. The appellant argued that, because Port Loko is part of the Colony of Sierra Leone, only the Supreme Court with a jury had jurisdiction, not the Circuit Court of the Protectorate. The court held that the Legislative Council established by the 1924 Order in Council governed both the Colony and the Protectorate, and could validly enact Ordinance 32/1933, which defined the Protectorate to include the entire Port Loko administrative district for judicial and administrative purposes. The court treated Article XV of the 1924 Royal Instructions as directory, so mis-titling did not invalidate the Ordinance. Historical statutes consistently placed outlying colonial portions under Protectorate jurisdiction. Distinguishing Damodhar Gordhan v. Doeram Kanji, the court emphasized that the transfer here was accomplished by competent legislative Acts. The appeal was dismissed and the conviction affirmed.