Execution of Criminals Act 1858 (SA)

ANNO VICESIMO SECUNDO

No. 23.

An Act to regulate the Execution of Criminats.

[Assented to, 24th December, 1858.1

HEREAS it is expedient to alter the practice relating to

W esecution of criminals-Be it therefore enacted by the

Governor-in-Chief of the Province of South Australia, with the	Y.,
advice and consent of the lqislative Council and House of As- sembly of the said Province, in tllis present Parliament assembled,

as follo~vs :

1. From and after this Act coming into operation sentence of Execution to be car-

death passed on any person by the Supreme Court of the said Pro- the walls ,f the Gaol.	ried into caffect within
vincc, or by any Judge thereof, shall be carried into execution by the Sheriff, within the walls or within the enclosed yard of the Gaol of Adelaide, or of such other Gaol as the Governor may, by writing under his hand, direct.

2. The Sheriff, the Gaoler, and such of the officers of the Gaol as Sheriff, Officers of Gaol, &c,, to witness

c.xrcution.

the Sheriff may require, including the Medical Offices in attendance spectators as the Sheriff may think fit to admit.	2	-
'	-
b,

on the occasion, shall be present at every such execution, together

with any Justices of the Peace, Ministers of Iteligion, and Officers of

8. Each of the persons aforesaid who may attend or be present at MedicalOfficrr to sign

certificate nnd wit-

any such execution shall continue anH remain within the walls or n,,,,	,,	decla-
into execution and completed according to law, and until the said
enclosed yard of the Gaol until the sentence shall have been carried ration. in the Schedule to this Act annexed marked A, and the Sheriff,

E 3 and

and the said Gaoler, and officers of the Gaol, and such other person present as may think fit, shall, before their departure from the Gaol subscribe a declaration according to the form set forth in the Schedulc to this Act annexed, marked B.

Inquest to be On

the body of every per-	4. The Coroner of the district in which any Gaol may be situated wherein any sentence of death shall have been carried into execution upon the body of any person, or if there be no such Coroner then the nearest Special Magistrate, shall, so soon after as convenient11 may be, hold an inquest upon the body of such person, and the jurors of the Jury on such inquest shall enquire and find whether such sentence was duly carried into execution.
son executed.
Penalty for making
idss declaration.	5. Any person who shall subscribe any certificate or declaration as aforesaid knowing the same to be false, or to contair~ any false statement, or who shall bury or remove from such Gaol any such body, until after such inquest shall have been duly held, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be liable to penal servitude for any period not exceeding four years.
Certificate and decla-
ration to bc recorded	6. Every such certificate and declaration as aforesaid shall be forthwith transmitted by the Sheriff to the Master of the said Suprenle Court, and shall be entered and kept in the office of the said Master as a record of the said Court, and shall be published in the South Australian Government Gazette on three separate occasions.
and publiahcd.
Commencement of
Act.	7. This Act shall take effect from the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine,

SCHEDULES

SCHEDULBS REFERRED TO.

A

I, A. B., being the Medical Officer in attendance on the execution of C. D., at the

Gaol of do hereby certify and declare that I have this day wit- nessed the execution of the said C. 1). at the said Gaol, and I further certify and declare that the said C. D, was, in pursuance of the sentence of the

Court, hanged by the neck until his body was dcad.

Given under my hand this day of , in the year of

our Lord one thousand eight hundred and , at the said Gaol.

W e do hereby testify and declare that we have this day been present at the Gaol

of, when the extreme penalty of the law was carried into execution on

the body of C. D., convicted at the Criminal Session of the Supreme Court held on the

day of , and sentenced to death, and that the said C. D.

was, in pursuance of the said sentence, hanged by the neck until his body was dead.

Dated this day of , A.D. 18 , at the said Gaol.

Sheriff.

ff aoler.

Turnkey.

Constables.

Justices of the Peace.

Other Spectators.

Adelaide: Printed by authority by W. C. Cox, Government Printer, Victoria-square,